Apple iPhone 16: Unexpected Design Change Leaked In New Report

Updated Sept. 7 with more iPhone 16 case changes including Spigen cases with similar button cover design

The iPhone 16 series has plenty of changes in store, such as different displays on some models, wider implementation of the exceptional tetraprism camera and an improved main camera sensor. But the new Capture Button for taking photos or shooting video may mean there’s a surprise new covering for it. And a new report says that it’s not just Apple’s own cases which will have this design element. The good news is that it looks like the new button is coming to all the new iPhones.

As well as new information claiming that Apple’s own cases will have a covering for the new Capture Button, a third-party brand, Spigen, has released early looks at its iPhone 16 cases and it has a similar feature, according to Apple Insider.

ForbesiPhone 16 Release Date Latest: What To Expect When—And WhereBy David Phelan

Spigen’s Ultra Hybrid MagFit case has what the report calls a unique covering. It says, “The case is otherwise clear with a harder plastic back and a softer grey bumper around the edge. MagSafe is supported with a ring of magnets in the center. For the presumed Capture button, there is a small piece of what appears to be black-tinted metal that blends into the darkened sides. It’s free floating, suspended by some sort of rubber gasket. The inside of the button has a white material, likely a conductor similar to what Apple is doing.

To work, it must make contact with the whole button — and it looks like it will. Based on what we’ve learned, the button is slightly recessed, so when a phone is inserted, it will push out against the button ensuring good contact.”

Well, until there’s an iPhone to put it in, we can’t know for certain, but it sounds promising. In all likelihood, most cases will have a space where the Capture Button is, at least until case makers can figure out a way to make a cover work—as you’ll see below, that’s not as easy as it sounds because this is a capacitive button.

The other new report comes courtesy of images of iPhone 16 cases, showing where the new button will be. But it also raises a question: what will happen to FineWoven? This is a material, you’ll remember, which Apple introduced last year to replace its premium leather products such as leather iPhone cases or Apple Watch Bands.

It was developed to offer a high-end finish which didn’t damage the environment the way leather production does. But the problem was that FineWoven turned out to be unpopular. Many found it didn’t have longevity and started to look less than premium quite quickly.

As Tim Hardwick reports over at MacRumors, while it was more environmentally friendly, “it did not go down well with customers, and dwindling stock leading up to Apple’s iPhone 16 event on September 9 has many people wondering if Apple is about to pull the plug on FineWoven for good.”

Since stock of iPhone cases is “at an all-time low” as the report says, this could indicate Apple is jettisoning FineWoven now. Or will it be released in a line-up of different colors? The keynote will tell us.

Back to the Capture Button… the thing about the Capture Button is that it’s rumored to be capacitive so you can half-press to focus before properly pressing to take a shot. Swiping right and left can zoom in and out, it’s thought.

A capacitive button means that, like the touchscreen on the iPhone, it works through a weak electrical field which responds when another electrical field (specifically, your finger) interrupts it. That’s why you can’t use capacitive screens underwater, for instance.

So, the assumption was that phone cases would be designed with holes to allow easy access to the Capture Button.

But it seems that Apple’s own silicone iPhone cases won’t have a gap but rather a piece of material over where the button resides, according to a leak from @DuanRui.

The Apple Insider report referred to above also mentions details about the Apple silicone cases, saying, “At least on Apple’s silicone case, the button will still be metal with three vertical rows of tiny holes drilled throughout it. Then there appears to be some sort of conductive material underneath to help enable the touch functionality.”

The @DuanRui post shows images of what are claimed to be third-party iPhone 16 cases, with a gap exactly where the Capture Button is expected to sit. And I can confirm that the (many) iPhone 16 cases I have been sent to review all have this gap.

But the post says, in a Google translation from the Chinese, “It is said that the official protective case of Apple’s iPhone 16 series will not have this opening and will be made into an integrated design, which will not affect the normal use of this capacitive button.”

Well, covering the button makes a kind of sense: you don’t want to keep accidentally triggering the shutter with your finger, do you?

But the material in question is a mystery. The thing is, you can dial up the distance where capacitive buttons can spot an interaction. I remember seeing a Microsoft keyboard which had it really upped so that as you went to touch it, the backlight came on from a foot away. The same principle means that many phones let you interact with the display with gloves on.

Perhaps this button can be controlled through a physical barrier in the same way as the gloves. Or maybe it’s a bespoke material—hey, Apple could license it!

As mentioned above, the key takeaway from all this is that according to the third-party cases, the Capture Button is coming to the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, not just the Pro versions—something some people, such as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, weren’t sure about.

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