Analysts: Apple will not put capacitive buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro after all

Apple wouldn’t put capacitive buttons on the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro anyway. The design would be too complex and so the manufacturer would, at least this year, revert to mechanical buttons for its most expensive phones.

The step is still possible now, because the iPhone 15s are still in the Engineer Validation Test phase, says TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The switch would have little effect on the release of the phones, which should still take place around the same time this fall. Another analyst, Jeff Pu of Haitong Tech, was the first to share the information, writes 9to5Mac.

The reason for the switch is that the design is too complex to implement. Apple would like to replace each button with a vibrating motor to imitate the feel of a button. The iPhone 15 Pro with capacitive buttons has been rumored for months and those buttons were seen in renders. Apple would still plan to use the technology, but next year. That technology is not new: the HTC U12+ from 2018, for example, also has no physical, but capacitive buttons. Apple usually releases its iPhones in September or October.

In the first photo, the render is next to a real iPhone 14 Pro. Source: 9to5Mac