Big blow! iPhone 15 Pro to miss out on a MAJOR design feature; iPhone 16 Pro could get it instead

Apple's next flagship, the iPhone 15 Pro is tipped for big upgrades this year. Reports have revealed big features like a periscope camera, A17 Bionic processor, USB Type-C port, and more. What's more, Apple has reportedly reserved some specific upgrades for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, which could debut at Apple's fall event. Among one of them are solid-state buttons which were expected to replace the volume and mute buttons on the Pro variants.

However, previous reports have claimed that Apple could skip this feature in this year's iPhone lineup. Now, another reliable analyst has corroborated these rumours.

No solid-state buttons

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are set to skip the solid-state buttons. Gurman revealed in the Q&A section of his Power On newsletter that solid-state buttons would be missing on the Pro variants of the iPhone 15 series due to “manufacturing complexity, higher associated costs and software integration issues”.

Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu claimed last month that Apple was skipping this major feature to meet the reported price tag of the devices.

The Pro models of the iPhone 15 series are expected to have the brand new A17 Bionic chipset which could be based on the new 3nm process technology. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will get the A17 Bionic SoC.

iPhone 16 rumours

Gurman has also claimed that Apple could be keeping solid-state buttons reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Moreover, a previous report by the same analyst has stated that the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro Max could be dubbed the iPhone 16 Ultra and have features like a faster processor, additional camera improvements and a bigger display than its predecessor, which is the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max.

It was also reported that Apple could even go ‘port-less' next year with the iPhone 16 Ultra ditching the USB Type-C port too.

It should be noted that all this information is based on unofficial sources and should be taken with a pinch of salt. Only the official announcement from Apple will reveal actual details about the iPhone 15 series as well as the iPhone 16 Ultra.