iPhone 15 series is slated to launch later this year, with four variants — the standard iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which could debut as the ‘Ultra’ model this year. While Apple never puts out specifications for its forthcoming series of flagship smartphones before they are released, there have been various leaks and reports regarding the handsets in recent weeks. A pair of new sources have revealed some important details about the series’ Pro versions.
According to a MacRumors report, Apple intends to return to a two-button design for the iPhone 15 Pro models — both the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max — rather than the one unified volume button, that was previously reported to feature on Apple’s upcoming flagship phones. The unified volume button was originally intended for solid-state technology, but Apple has reportedly decided to go with the older design now that solid-state buttons have been delayed, to keep up with their production timeline.
The report adds that despite the fact that Apple is still using the previous two-button design for volume control, the company intends to replace the mute switch with a new mute button. The mute button will reportedly be customised in the same way as the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra is, as has also been indicated previously.
The renders in the report portray the design that Apple intended to utilise before deciding to omit solid-state buttons, and they feature the design that Apple intended to employ for much of the iPhone 15 Pro development phase. This is most likely the design Apple will utilise for the iPhone 16 Pro models, which are now believed to debut solid-state button technology rather than the iPhone 15 Pro models.
An earlier report also suggested that Apple has decided to retain the original volume button design on the iPhone 15 Pro models, instead of integrating new solid-state buttons, due to the new solution’s significantly more complicated construction. The report noted that the new buttons would require the installation of three new haptics engines within the iPhones’ hardware.