Apple is adding a dedicated touch-sensitive camera button to the iPhone 16 series, the company announced during its “Glowtime” event. The button is covered by a smooth texture sapphire crystal and a stainless steel rim.
Pressing the button for the first time will open the camera app. You press it to take a photo and press and hold to start a video recording. Because the button is touch-sensitive, you can also control zoom by sliding your finger across.
If you press the camera control lightly twice, it brings up other controls, such as depth of field.
In prior iPhone models, you could trigger the camera through the lock screen icon and use the down volume key to capture a photo. On the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro Max, there is already an option to trigger the camera through the Action Button. This option will be available to all iPhone 16 series models, too.
These shortcuts could still be useful if people want to map it to different actions. For instance, they could use the action button to take selfies, especially given it is located on the upper left half of the frame.
The company is also allowing third-party apps to take advantage of different press and touch gestures of the camera control. During the event, Apple said that Snapchat is using this button for experiences like quickly sharing a moment with friends.
Apple said that it will update camera control later this year with a two-state shutter that can lock focus and exposure on the subject. Users can activate this feature by lightly pressing the camera button.
And since iOS 18 allows users to replace lock screen icons, they can place another camera app instead of the default one on the lock screen.
Camera control also allows users to search visually through Apple Intelligence. The company said there will be third-party integration for visual search with Google or ChatGPT.