I tell my friends that the new thing iPhone 16 It comes out and everyone says the same thing: “What's new?” I heard one editor wonder if the new phone was worth calling itself iPhone 15sa reference to the iPhone 6s Back in the day, Apple updated the internals twice a year without changing the look of the iPhone. My only response is: don't you see the new button? What else do you want!?
You think it's just a button? Sure, the camera hasn't changed much. It can't take infrared photos or X-ray through walls. It doesn't record holograms that you can play with R2-D2 when you meet Ben Kenobi. In fact, Apple's camera software options are pretty bare-bones compared to Samsung's and Google's, and the new button doesn't quite measure up to the pro controls of competitors.
I still get offended when people say “just one button.” A button is a big deal! How many buttons does a phone have? Three? Four? My iPhone 15 Pro Max has four: volume up, volume down, Siri (wait, where’s the power button?), and action button. One of them was a new button when I bought that phone, I’m sure, but my iPhone 13 Pro Max also has four buttons, so maybe I’m wrong.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the most feature-rich phone I own, and it only has five buttons, and two of them are on the S Pen! I actually count the S Pen eject click as a button, but it doesn't do anything, it's just for fun. Why doesn't Apple give us buttons that don't do anything? The iPhone 16's camera control button looks fun, but it actually does stuff.
What the Camera Control Button Does and Doesn't Do
The camera button will open the camera… I think? Right now my action button opens my iPhone 15 Pro Max camera, but I'll be using my iPhone 16 Pro (desert titanium of course) Camera control for that. I hope.
I'm pretty sure the Camera button not only opens the camera, but also opens AI, i.e. Apple IntelligenceHolding down the camera control button takes a photo that is immediately sent to Apple's AI for processing.
There's a good chance I'll forget how to open the camera and accidentally feed Apple's AI… over and over again. I mostly use the buttons on my iPhone to take accidental screenshots, so this will be an improvement. At least there will be some intelligence involved.
Anyway, with the camera control button, I finally get the two-stage shutter button I've been waiting for. I can press the button halfway to focus the camera, and then fully press it to take the picture.
I get so many puzzled looks when I explain the two-stage camera button thing that I'm guessing half of you have no idea what I'm talking about. This is how standard cameras work and it has worked since autofocus was invented, but I think most people had no idea a camera could do this. Most people just press the camera button all the way down to take a photo.
The two-stage button improves photos. It's easier to focus the camera and hold it steady when taking the photo. That means photos are much clearer.
I honestly think this will be the biggest improvement to iPhone photography since Apple added a second camera lens. This is the biggest hardware improvement I wanted for smartphones, aside from bringing back the 3.5mm headphone jack.
More than just an iPhone 16 button, it's the beginning of something
…all Android phone makers will add a two-stage camera button within two years…
The new button is more than just a button. The camera control is touch-sensitive. You can swipe over it. Okay, that's cool. I can see how that would be useful for changing settings, and maybe even fun! I can also imagine switching between camera lenses with accidental swipes. That would be a mess.
If Apple had given us just two-stage focusing, I would have been grateful for that alone. But Apple didn't stop at a sliding autofocus button. Apple goes even further with AI. Linking the camera control button directly to Apple Intelligence puts AI front and center in a way that Google and Samsung have avoided.
You can find many interesting AI tools at The best Samsung phonesYou can talk to Google Gemini by holding a button on your Pixel 9 phone. Neither of these two make it that easy for AI to see what you see, with the push of a button. We're not even sure what this will be useful for, we just know that you can show AI stuff and then you can, umm…
Back to the button. A button is a very important thing! We need more buttons. This isn't the first new button I've seen recently (hello, action button!) and it won't be the last. Okay. I'm getting tired of touchscreens.
First, I expect every Android phone manufacturer to add a two-stage camera button within two years. It will take a few months for current buyers to get jealous and demand a button on their next Android, and then it takes about 18 months to design a new phone. So, two years… I'd bet on it.
Second, a camera button is just the beginning. There may be more buttons on the way. AI buttons. Buttons we haven't thought of yet. More buttons will be on the way. The zombie spectre of phone buttons has awakened and is hungry for new ideas.
Finally, touchscreens are terrible, at least on their own. A touchscreen is a mistaken touch waiting to happen. It's a million wrong buttons I can press while trying to press the right button. It's an escape room without the Esc key. We need more buttons to help us control our phones.
Touchscreens are good for people with certain abilities — a certain level of dexterity or fine motor control. It was always a mistake to make touch the sole paradigm for controlling our smartphones (and don’t get me started on cars). I want more buttons, and if you don’t understand why the new button is such a big deal, then you’re probably still trying to unlock your phone’s screen with your fingers.
