Apple launched the highly anticipated iPhone 16 series last month. Besides the new processors, pre-installed iOS 18, and the announcement of RCS support, a significant design change caught everyone’s attention. At the event, Apple showed off a new Camera Control button on all the models including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro (Review), and iPhone 16 Pro Max
The new button gives users instant access to the camera and its settings with different pressure taps. No doubt, it is an intriguing design. However, many of you might be curious to know what made Apple add an extra button for the camera. Well, we may have some answers now, courtesy of two iPhone 16 designers.
The idea behind the Camera Control button that debuted with the iPhone 16 series
Speaking on the Cool Hunting Design Tangents podcast, senior product designer Rich Dinh and human interface designer Johnny Manzari shed some light on the thinking behind the development of the Camera Control button. Dinh, at the start of the podcast, says he liked the idea of the Camera Control button. He further says that it allows grabbing your phone and start shooting immediately.
In his reference, he gave an example of capturing brief but funniest moments of his two little kids and implied that snapping those brief fun moments wouldn’t have been possible without the Camera Control button. Dinh and Manzari later said that it all started by asking what they could do to make people always catch special moments instantly.
Both emphasized that they didn’t start off thinking about how and when to create the button. It all started with a step towards their vision of offering never missing a moment kind of camera experience. They further said that a lot of thought went into the design of the Camera Control button.
The button has been designed precisely, taking care of all the little details
Speaking on the podcast, one of the designers said “The button is flush. And, so from the day-to-day use, we’re hoping that the phone feels very much like your phone today in terms of how you grip it and handle it. But we’ve added a little chamfer in there to give that really lovely half-press and full-press experience.” That’s not all, they ensured “it was capable of IP68 water resistance.”
Besides, they wanted the button to live up to that iPhone level of durability.” That’s why the Camera Control button uses the same materials as its respective device. On top of that, the button also uses similar colors which is an obvious thought. Moreover, both designers also said that the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series is the result of combining a force sensor and a capacitive sensor on this mechanical button.
