Apple Is Simplifying The iPhone 18's Camera Control - But Not For The Reason You Think

A year and two generations after introducing the Camera Control functionality on the iPhone, it seems Apple is getting ready to simplify this feature. According to Weibo leaker Instant Digital, the company plans to remove the capacitive sensing layer of the Camera Control, leaving it with pressure sensing recognition only.

This change would be on par with what other smartphone makers offer, like Oppo and Vivo. These brands use a single-sensor approach that can recognize taps, presses, and even sliding gestures. While this could mean Apple is readying to phase out the Camera Control, as many people have mixed feelings about it, it could also mean the company is trying to find a way to cut costs.

With that, even if Apple makes the Camera Control simpler, it would still have the ability to recognize different types of pressure and sliding gestures. More interestingly, for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, Apple could use piezoelectric ceramics for haptic feedback, as the company is rumored to finally switch to solid-state buttons.

Even though Apple is currently planning to simplify the manufacturing process of the Camera Control, the company would be better off without Camera Control. After testing this feature for a year on the iPhone 16 Pro Max and continuing to have it on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, it only feels valuable for opening the camera quicker or using Visual Intelligence, which is something I rarely use.

While the latter can be pretty useful, and Apple continues to expand on Visual Intelligence features, I honestly challenge the necessity of having this extra button. Like the Action Button, it can be pretty useful if you can add a shortcut to improve a task you do repeatedly — or it can be just a dead button for your mute switch.

Since Apple has always been a company pushing customers to the future, it seems very un-Apple what it has done in the past few years with the Action Button and the Camera Control. However, the ongoing rumors that solid-state buttons are coming might give us a glimpse of the company's old dream of a button-less and port-less iPhone.