Apple has announced that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are getting a second new button – a Camera Control button – at its 'Glowtime' iPhone 16 launch event. You can catch up with everything Apple announced at our iPhone 16 event live blog.
The new button will join the Action button, which debuted on last year's iPhone 15 Pro models, and which offers easy access to a handful of shortcuts, on all four of Apple's new handsets.
To get you up to speed on the Action button, it replaces the classic mute switch, but by default it'll still control your iPhone 16's ringer. If you head into your phone's Settings app you can then reprogram the Action button to perform a wide variety of other tasks.
Simpler shortcuts include turning on or off the flashlight, while more complex shortcuts can be programmed that allow you to access different apps and services based on the time of day, your location, and your device's orientation. The Action button really feels like it can be whatever you need it to be, and is easily one of the best additions to the iPhone 16.
Another contender for best addition is the Camera Control button. You tap this once to open up the camera app, and tap it again to take a snap. If you want to adjust various camera settings you can navigate to a menu and adjust them by simply sliding and tapping on the Camera Control button as required.
The button can also be used to access the new Visual Intelligence feature – think Google Lens or Circle to Search on Android, but Apple-ified.
The camera controls especially look handy, and could help budding creatives more easily use the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro for their film and photography projects.
These various sliding and tapping motion controls are possible because technically neither of the Camera Control or Action button are actual buttons – instead they merely give haptic feedback to make it seem like they're being pushed in.
Another advantage of this design is that there's one less point of failure on your iPhone, as there's fewer moving parts to wear down over time.
In addition to the new iPhone 16 models, Apple also showcased the new Apple Watch 10 and two Apple AirPods 4 models.
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