An Apple insider recently spotted a US Patent Application, that suggests that the company is investigating “Capacitive Sensing Input Devices”. According to the application, buttons disrupt the “continuity of device housing” and that mechanical buttons can tear down over time.
Based on this, it is rumored that the future iPhones(maybe iPhone 13) may lack physical buttons. Rather than mechanical buttons that can be toggled on and off, this hypothetical model would employ capacitive sensing. They may appear as invisible backlit holes that appear when touched and vanish when not in use. This approach will definitely add a great deal of elegance to any applied device. However, there is no idea how this phenomenon would work, as you will not clearly be aware of the button’s exact location.
The greatest question is will this classy feature get incorporated into the next iteration of the iPhone or will we have to wait for a few more years. Apple is clearly working on a bunch of variations on its upcoming iterations and this feature definitely fits into the list of changes that it could possibly make.
One such talk on the market is that Apple is working to regain its fingerprint sensor in its upcoming iPhone 13. But instead of placing it on the button, it will be placed under the surface of the phone’s screen. This tactic clearly goes well with the buttonless design aesthetic that Apple is working on for future releases.
However, this patent application may be intended for an entirely different product than the iPhone. It may even be bought for any future product whose name is even not coined yet. But based on the other future updates of Apple, this patent matches the upcoming iPhone better. To know anything for certain, we need to wait for Apple’s reveal during the next iPhone launch event, which is most likely to be held in September.