The iPhone rumour mill is really going on quite the ride in recent times. For quite awhile, industry analysts have been predicting that the iPhone 15 Pro models will be sporting a design that’s free from physical buttons. Now, analysts claim that Apple will be going back to the tried and true design formula, at least for another year.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo notes in a Medium post that Apple will revert the design of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to having its “traditional physical button design”. He notes that this is due to “unresolved technical issues before mass production”. At the same time, this won’t affect the production stage of the phones themselves too much, as they are currently still in the Engineering Validation and Testing (EVT) stage, before actual mass production.
Two iPhone 15 Pro models’ removal of solid-state button design negatively affects Cirrus Logic and AAC / 兩款iPhone 15 Pro取消固態按鍵設計不利Cirrus Logic與瑞聲科技https://t.co/Ot81sCQzgk
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) April 12, 2023
The reversion to the traditional setup with physical buttons will also lead to simpler development and testing, Kuo says. So beyond looking more familiar than initially anticipated, there will not be any major changes to the iPhone 15 Pro, in terms of announcement and release schedule at least.
A similar prediction has been made by Jeff Pu and Shelly Chou of the Hong Kong-based Haitong International Securities investment firm. The prediction was made via a research note, as reported by MacRumors.
For those who were already anticipating the new design of the iPhone 15 Pro models, especially after seeing the reported CAD renders, then this news would likely come across as quite the bummer. On the flip side, those who were unsure about the change would probably be letting out sighs of relief. Though either way, with the new tech not making it for this year’s models, it’s likely that Apple will try again next year, once the company has had more time to iron out kinks in the design.
(Source: Ming-Chi Kuo / Medium, MacRumors)
