iPhone 16 Lineup to Boast New Capacitive ‘Capture Button,’ Tetraprism Camera on Both Pro Models

A new rumor says the iPhone 16 series (yes, the iPhone 16, it’s not too soon for iPhone 16 rumors, is it?) will boast a new capacitive button, which is known internally as the “Capture Button.” The button is codenamed “Project Nova” and is likely to be one of the major selling points of next year’s iPhone — as long as it makes it through the initial testing phase.

According to a report shared by MacRumors, the Capture Button will be on the same side of the handset as the Power button but positioned slightly lower, approximately where the mmWave cutout currently resides on this year’s US iPhone 15 models. The mmWave cutout will be moved to the opposite side of the handset, where it will sit under the volume buttons, where the SIM tray still lives in non-US iPhone 15 devices. There’s no word as yet on what the new capacitive button will be used for.

The Capture Button is said to be a capacitive button in place of the traditional mechanical one. Capacitive buttons do not actually move like a mechanical button. Instead, a capacitive button detects touch and pressure and then provides haptic feedback via a haptic engine. A real-world example is the Home button on the iPhone SE, which mimics the physical button experience via haptics.  MacRumors says its sources claim the capacitive buttons will feature force sensor functionality, which detects applied force and converts the amount of force into electrical signals.

Many had expected this year’s iPhone 15 Pro models to be equipped with capacitive power and volume buttons. However, the new buttons didn’t make the cut this year, as the report’s sources say the module was canceled during development due to unsatisfactory test results caused by multiple hardware issues.

Unlike the rumored capacitive volume and power buttons, which would have likely been restricted to the iPhone 15 Pro handsets, the Capture Button is expected to be available across the entire iPhone 16 lineup. However, as a bit of insurance in case the Capture Button fails in testing, Apple has also designed a hardware configuration lacking the Capture Button as a possible fallback if needed.

In addition to the new Capture Button, the iPhone 16 lineup is also expected to boast a capacitive Action Button, known as “Project Atlas.” The haptic Action Button is said to use a design similar to the Capture Button and operates using strain gauges and a reluctance motor to provide haptic feedback.

The base model iPhone 16 is also expected to feature a redesigned camera bump and a vertical camera arrangement similar to the iPhone 12 camera lens layout. The report also adds that the iPhone 16 Pro models are set to feature a larger screen size, increasing from 6.1 and 6.7 inches to 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively. This lines up with a May report by display industry analyst Ross Young that was independently corroborated by other analysts and leakers later that same month.

In a Medium post on Sunday, Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated his previous claims that both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with the same tetraprism lens as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with no expected changes in specifications.

This year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max is the only 2023 model boasting a tetraprism lens arrangement, increasing the camera’s telephoto optical zoom from 3x to 5x.

As usual, these are all rumors and we’re quite early in the iPhone 16 rumor lifecycle, so plenty of things could change between now and next September. So, keep your salt substitute shaker handy.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]