Even before the release of the iPhone 15 series, reports of Apple removing the silent dial in favor of an action button appeared. Finally, we see a new action button on the iPhone 15 Pro series. Unfortunately, the operation button on the iPhone 15 Pro is not designed as a solid-state button as rumored, but still uses a mechanical structure.

There's a reason Apple didn't end up using a solid-state button on the iPhone 15 series. According to Haitong Securities analyst Pu Deyu at the time, if Apple wants to adopt a new solution, then the design of the component will be more complicated. The new button requires three new haptic engines to be installed inside the iPhone, which will greatly increase the technical difficulty and space utilization.

According to the current Revelations, the action button, which was first introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro, may become more powerful and will be included in a wider range of models. According to new Revelations today, all four iPhone 16 models will come with an action button. In addition, Apple also plans to add more features to the action button, returning to the capacitive solid-state button design rather than the current mechanical button.

According to MacRumors, the new details come from pre-production information and do not rule out the possibility of a change in Apple's plans. As we saw last year, early pre-production information is not indicative of the final shape of the product, and Apple will make multiple adjustments to the device.

The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max will all reportedly come with an action button. Currently, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have action buttons, and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus still use the classic mute switch.

In the iPhone 16 series, the improved action button is codenamed "Atlas" and is expected to function similarly to the Touch ID Home button on previous iPhone models or the Force Touch pressure trackpad on the MacBook.

According to internal documents, the new action button will be equipped with a force sensor that can detect pressure changes as well as a "light touch toggle" function, about which there is no further information at this time. It's worth mentioning that Apple previously had the idea of adding a new camera button to the iPhone, which seems to have been revived and will have a similar design and functionality to the new action button.

Apple has also experimented with action buttons in different sizes, with some hardware configurations having action buttons that are larger than those currently found on the iPhone 15 Pro and are closer in size to the volume button. The action button has appeared on several iPhone 16 prototypes and also appears in internal documentation related to the new device.

According to reports, the new action button will also appear on the next iPhone SE, which is scheduled to be launched in 2025, which will mean that the mute switch will be cut off for all new iphones in the future.

While Apple's plans are still unlikely to change, it's important to consider that the information provided here is pre-production information and may not necessarily reflect information that will eventually ship on a mass-production device, as we are still months away from finalizing the hardware design.

My feeling for the operation button is actually very complicated, which is also a reflection of Apple's continuous change in design. Compared with the traditional mute lever, the operation button provides the user with a physical button to achieve more autonomous functions on the side of the fuselage, but only from the functional point of view, a key can only set one function. You can't switch it back and forth between different functions, you can only set it one at a time.

The good news is that if Apple really wants to turn the mechanical button into a capacitive solid-state button, then the operability of this action button should be improved, and it may be able to assign multiple functions, or trigger different effects by clicking, double-clicking, and long-pressing. In addition, the use of capacitive solid-state buttons also has an implicit meaning - Apple's non-open iPhone is moving forward. Turn the button part into a solid-state button, and the only open part of the iPhone may be the speaker, microphone, charging port and camera module. The integrity and waterproof performance of the whole machine are expected to be further improved.

All in all, the action button is a novelty on the iPhone, and should be useful in everyday use if it's fully functional.