“There were rumors that Apple wanted to do away with physical buttons entirely in 2023, but ultimately shelved the idea for next time.”, — write: www.unian.ua
There were rumors that Apple wanted to do away with physical buttons entirely in 2023, but ultimately shelved the idea for next time.
A rare iPhone prototype without physical buttons and the Apple logo / photo by AppleDemoYTEven before the announcement of the iPhone 15 line, there were rumors that Apple wanted to release a smartphone without physical buttons, but this change never materialized. At the same time, such a device already exists in the company, if only in the form of a prototype.The other day, a video of a rare iPhone prototype appeared on the Internet, which has one important feature – touch buttons for adjusting the volume and power, supplemented by the tactile feedback of the Haptic Engine. According to the author, it was possible to obtain a rare test sample of the iPhone at an electronics recycling enterprise.
The motherboard of the device has a unique layout – it is something in between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro. And instead of an “apple” the logo in the form of intersecting disks is depicted on the back. If the source is to be believed, this is a branded prototype that was used to test tactile feedback and touch keys on the body – solid-state volume and power buttons.
Another interesting point is that some internal components, in particular, the camera, do not work (they are plugs), and only a few cables are connected to the motherboard: one goes to the charging port, the other to the smartphone buttons. On power-up, a message appears on the screen that the microcontroller has completed initialization, and when connected to a Mac, it is recognized as “Bender”, presumably after the character from “Futures”.
The author of the YouTube channel AppleDemoYT suggests that this device was created to test experimental functions, and not a prototype of a specific iPhone model. At the same time, in iOS 18 there was an animation of pressing buttons, which leaves room for the possible implementation of buttons with tactile feedback.
Previously, iPhone photos without cameras “went viral” on the Internet. As it turned out, such iPhones are specially processed in private factories for people who especially care about safety.
Rumors almost a year before the announcement of the iPhone 17 say that the iPhone 2025 will be the most interesting series in the coming years. With the release of the iPhone 17, the cameras will be significantly updated, in particular the front camera, and the basic models will finally switch to 120-hertz screens. There is another reason to wait for the iPhone of 2025 – this is the mysterious iPhone Air.
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