Apple plans to introduce a simplified version of its overly complicated Camera Control button for the iPhone 18, due in fall 2026.
As a refresher, the Camera Control on the iPhone 16 is a complex piece of engineering. It combines a pressure-sensitive button with a capacitive surface on which you can swipe and tap to manipulate the Camera app. You can press the button to take a picture and swipe on its surface to switch between modes, zoom in and out, and more.
The rumor comes from the Instant Digital account on Weibo, which has accurately leaked information about upcoming iPhones in the past. They say Apple is currently running normal trial production of the pressure sensor used in the iPhone’s Camera Control. The company, however, has removed the touch-sensitive component from the button.
The report specifically cites the high production cost and long-term reliability concerns of the Camera Control as reasons for this change. I’m sure that user feedback is also playing a role.
MacDailyNews Take: Crap, what are we going to use for quickly taking random photos of the ground?
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The touch sensitive feature of the button just doesn’t reliably invoke the camera controls.
After taking multiple photos of the inside of my pocket as I removed my phone, I disabled this stupid button and never looked back.
Tim Cook wants to simplify???? The same Tim Cook that says “YES!” to every stupid idea his idiot programmers come up with? The same Tim Cook that has seen the iPhone turn into a barely usable tool, like the biggest Swiss Army knife they make, with every possible tool on it, so many tools that the knife is as wide as it is long…good enough to do many things, terrible at doing any of them well.