'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Every iPhone 16 model next year may be getting the iPhone 15 Pro's hottest feature
iPhone 15 Pro Action Button
The Action button could be coming to the entire iPhone 16 line, and could itself get a technical upgrade.
If you're an Apple Watch Ultra or iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max user, you're familiar with the Action button. On the Apple Watch Ultra, it was a new button that could be configured to do things like turn on the flashlight, and it came to the iPhone Pro and Pro Max as a replacement for the mute switch.
Also: This is the first app I install on every new Mac
According to a report by MacRumors, this button is not only getting an upgrade, but could become a feature on all iPhone 16 handsets.
Rolling this out to all iPhone 16 models -- versus keeping it a premium feature on the Pro and Pro Max handsets -- makes sense in terms of simplifying assembly and support. It means fewer components for Apple to source, assemble, and repair.
The mute switch has had its day, and if Apple can phase out that one component, it represents money saved on components and assembly. And if Apple can also make the button more reliable, that brings with it even more benefits -- which is precisely what the report says will happen.
According to the report, "Apple plans to add even more functionality to the Action button by changing the button from mechanical to a capacitive-type button."
Also: I tested this Insta360 car camera mount on a Jaguar XJS, and the results were glorious
A capacitive-type button is like a touchscreen but without the screen bit. A touch-sensitive button is likely to be more robust than a mechanical switch or button, and more resistant to the ingress of dirt and moisture. I also will enable Apple to program the button to do more than a mechanical button could accomplish.
For example, a capacitive-type button of this nature could double as a volume control, much like the one built into the AirPods -- which can respond to touch, movement and pressure -- thereby eliminating the need for the up and down volume buttons, further simplifying assembly, and eliminating yet more physical buttons.