Apple is taking a peculiar direction with the iPhone — more physical buttons. The iPhone 15 Pro brought in a new button called the Action Button. It’s a multifunctional button that you can assign to a few different functions. Recent rumors about the iPhone 16 talked about the addition of another button called the Capture Button, and now we have a confirmation about what it could do.
In Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, he confirmed that the new Capture Button on the iPhone 16 series will be used for video capture. Of course, it was a bit obvious from the name itself, but we’ve never had confirmation about the functionality before now.
iPhone 16 to get a capacitive button for video capture
The Action Button has been a welcome addition to the iPhone 15 Pro. While it’s not a game-changing feature, it’s a convenient one. A report from a few weeks ago first mentioned the Capture Button, which is underway with the code name Project Nova.
Gurman has now confirmed that the button will indeed be a “dedicated button for taking video.” The button is going to be located on the bottom right of the iPhone, which would mimic the typical placement of shutter buttons on cameras as well as some older phones with dedicated camera buttons, like the Sony Ericsson models.
The button placement will be achieved by moving the 5G mmWave antenna from under the power button to under the volume rockers. The button may work with other camera functions than just as a record button for video, of course. We could see Apple deploy taps and squeezes to pull up different camera functions, especially likely with a force sensor rumored to be on board.
The Action Button was exclusive to the Pro models, but for now, we don’t know if that will be the case with the Capture Button, with the Action Button expected to go series-wide with iPhone 16. We’re sure to hear more about this button as we get closer to the release.
