Kuo: Apple will skip solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro due to technical issues

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max might skip the solid-state buttons, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reveals in his latest report. There are “unresolved technical issues,” meaning the premium iPhone 15 models might have to launch with regular physical buttons after all.

The rumor mill has been suggesting the volume rocker and the alert slider of the iPhone 15 Pro series will move on from the classic clickable button. They were supposed to be capacitive touch instead, like the home button on the iPhones of yesteryear.

Such a move would hurt suppliers. Most notably Cirrus Logic was expected to manufacture the dedicated microprocessor for the new buttons; another is AAC Technologies - a supplier of Taptic Engine. Another supplier, Luxshare ICT, will likely be less affected due to a significantly larger operating scale, wrote Kuo in the memo.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro dummy shows the tweaks to the button layout on the side, USB-C port on the bottom

The products are still in EVT Development stage (that’s the internal validation and testing period), meaning the decision might be reverted and we might see the new technology after all. If we don’t and Apple decides to stick with regular buttons once again, there will be a limited impact on mass production, and the new iPhone Pro models should arrive on schedule.

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