Well, the upcoming iPhone 15 series is gonna be huge since there are already reports on how Apple is set to differentiate the series from its predecessors as well as the distinction between Pro and non-Pro variants. Cut to now, it is being speculated that Apple will switch to solid-state buttons for the power and volume rockers with the iPhone 15 Pro series moving away from the current physical clickable buttons.
iPhone 15 Pro Series to switch to solid-state buttons
According to TFI International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, iPhone 15 Pro series which counts both iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, will get solid-state buttons for power and volume rockers. These were seen as home buttons on iPhone 7, 8, SE 2, and SE 3 where you would get a solid-state button attached to a taptic engine that simulates the pressing of a button instead of actually having a physical button in its place.
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My latest survey indicates that the volume button and power button of two high-end iPhone 15/2H23 new iPhone models may adopt a solid-state button design (similar to the home button design of iPhone 7/8/SE2 & 3) to replace the physical/mechanical button design.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 28, 2022
Apple iPhones currently use a single taptic engine to produce the vibration needed. With the change in action, this will increase the count to three taptic engines that will produce vibrations when stimulated giving a sense that the user has pressed the buttons.
Currently, Luxshare ICT and AAC Technologies produce taptic engines for iPhones. Increasing the count from one to three on each Pro unit will surely benefit these two suppliers. If the planned move goes through, these two suppliers are likely to get orders of millions of taptic engines to be used on the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro models.
Apart from the change in button design, Apple will introduce a powerful A17 Bionic chipset on the Pro models and approx 8GB of RAM to complement it. Although the chipset upgrade is certain, the RAM upgrade from the current 6GB to an enormous 8GB is yet to be confirmed by any official sources.
iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will get an upgrade to the A16 Bionic chipset that the current-gen iPhone 14 Pro series is using. Apart from that, it is certain that the entire iPhone 15 series will get USB-C ports to comply with the EU’s mandate at least in the European Union. There’s no timeline on when Apple will introduce the same outside EU although let’s keep our hopes high.
Keep checking out this space for more updates on the upcoming iPhone 15 series scheduled to launch sometime in the fall of 2023 as usual.
