The constant flow of iPhone 15 Pro rumors continues and the latest gives us a close look at a hardware change that could put to a rest a feature present since the original iPhone.
A set of CAD images and a video shared by oft-reliable leaker ShrimpApplePro appears to show a button taking the place of the familiar mute/silent switch on the iPhone 15 Pro (via 9to5Mac).
Would you miss the iPhone mute switch?
Given that the mute switch has been around since the original iPhone, it will be a bit surprising to see it eliminated. While common back in 2007, it's a feature that disappeared from most competitors over a decade ago. The OnePlus 11 is one of the few remaining Android phones with a mute switch.
It's convenient to glance at your phone and see the little patch of orange letting you know you have silenced your phone when entering an environment where you don't want it ringing or loudly notifying you. Unless we're missing something in the images, you will need to look at the status bar for that indication in the future. Apple has slowly converted the iPhone to a completely unmoving slab, so it's not shocking that it wants to eliminate one of the last moving parts.
More cads images The buttons! Source in video pic.twitter.com/sxy9GaNCreMarch 20, 2023
Speaking of which, the mute switch becoming a capacitive button is just one of the changes revealed in these images; the volume buttons are now a single capacitive button. This is another design change that we saw happen across virtually every Android phone at least a decade ago, so Apple is in good company.
Not thrilled at the idea of losing the mute switch? The images of the iPhone 15 still show a traditional mute switch, so whatever features you would be missing by going with the standard 15 over the 15 Pro, at least you'd be gaining a mute switch.
As I said at the outset, the iPhone 15 rumor mill is churning over time, so make sure to check our iPhone 15 hub for all of the latest right up until the launch this fall.
