The forthcoming Apple iPhone 15 Pro may sport a titanium frame and rounded back, according to recent sources. The material is more costly than the stainless steel used in the brand's most recent and current "Pro" versions. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst, stated in another note that the iPhone 15 Pro versions will include three Taptic engines in addition to solid-state buttons. It turns out that an Apple component supplier may have only made a passing suggestion of the same, increasing the likelihood that the next iPhone will include solid-state buttons.
Cirrus Logic, an Apple supplier, confirmed in a letter to shareholders that it would keep "engaging with a strategic customer" and that it intended to "bring a new HPMS component to market in smartphones next year," as was previously reported by MacRumours.
The company's "high-performance mixed-signal circuits," which according to MacRumours contain haptic drivers for the Taptic Engine in iPhone models, might be this component. On a recent earnings conference, Cirrus Logic CEO John Forsyth made the cryptic comment that such a component will hit the market in the "back half of next year," which is another oblique suggestion. Indeed, the aforementioned information from the Texas-based semiconductor business fits in nicely with the September release of the newest iPhone, which is customarily done.
In a previous report, Kuo said that Apple will install two of these new Taptic engines on the left and right inside surfaces of the following-generation iPhone models. These would offer haptic feedback comparable to that which was previously accessible when pushing down on the Apple iPhone 7's home button, which likewise included a button that did not physically move but gave the user the sensation that it was pushed utilising the Taptic engine and vibrations. Apple is also anticipated to transition from its exclusive lightning port to the more popular Type-C interface in the second half of 2023.
Even if the thought of a button-free iPhone seems intriguing, Chinese smartphone maker Vivo had already explored a same concept with a prototype device back in 2019 dubbed the Vivo Apex. The "Touch Sense" technology, which combined capacitive touch and pressure sensing, was used by the smartphone in place of buttons and ports. The 2020 Apex was released by Vivo a year later with the addition of a 3D curved edge display that practically wrapped around the edges of the phone. It also had an invisible selfie camera that was hidden behind the screen.
