It looks like the many rumours are true, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will finally swap the mute switch for a programmable action button.
The phones, which will launch today during Apple's "Wonderlust" event, have long been said to be adopting a similar assignable button to the Apple Watch Ultra. And now a renowned case manufacturer has confirmed it.
Spigen posted an image of the side of one of its cases, showing a couple of volume buttons and a new, smaller button above. It was accompanied by the official hashtag of the Apple event, plus the not-so subtle phrase: "Something's different."
something's different 🧐...#AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/xVPT7Xx7svSeptember 11, 2023
There's little else to go on, but we'll undoubtedly find out more during the livestream. T3 is also running a liveblog with all the latest details up to and through the show itself, if you want to find out much more.
As for the action button itself, details found inside a beta of iOS 17 showed that users will be able to assign multiple functions to it. You could leave it as a mute button, of course, but it could also be set to operate the camera, say, to take a picture.
Alternatively, you could set it to enable a shortcut through a new shortcuts app. This could be to send a set message to someone, or control a smart home device, say.
There are plenty of other options, too, which are each designed to make life a little more simple. The best news really is that the choice will be up to you.
We just hope it'll be a little more robust than the current switch – we're always accidentally knocking it and switching our phones to silent when placing the phone in a pocket. We've missed countless important calls and notifications that way.
We also wonder what Apple makes of Spigen going a little early on its revelation. Admittedly, it's not the biggest "leak" out there and the tease will only raise excitement levels further, but Apple doesn't tend to smile upon partners being so forthcoming.
Nevertheless, it's good to get one new feature signed off. Now we just have to wait for the several others.
