Apple has ordered several capacitive button components from a supplier in Taiwan for use in an upcoming series iPhone 16, claims a new report from Asia. According to this Economic Daily NewsAdvanced Semiconductor Engineering won the order, which is said to include system-in-package (SIP) modules that will be used to integrate sealing components with two Taptic Engines, one on each side of the iPhone.

The report claims that Apple will replace the existing physical buttons on both sides of the iPhone 15 with capacitive versions that will provide convenience to users. “iPhone 16” tactile feedback. The second type of button detects a press and mimics the press of a physical button using a haptic (or Taptic) mechanism that produces vibration.

Apple may have ordered the buttons in preparation for future production plans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be used in this year’s “iPhone 16” models.

The earliest known iPhone 16 prototypes were believed to include haptic power and volume buttons. Project Bongo, as it was called internally, was a redesign of the volume and power buttons on the “iPhone 15”. However, according to sources, it was canceled in 2023 due to technical problems not being resolved. After canceling the Bongo project, Apple returned to mechanical keys for the iPhone 16.

As a result, most rumors suggest that the ‌iPhone 16‌ models will have fully mechanical keys, with a fourth key said to be added. According to this InformationApple will add a new “capture button” to all ‌iPhone 16‌ models, but the button is expected to be mechanical rather than capacitive and still be able to respond to pressure and touch.

The button will reportedly be used to take photos and videos, and ‌iPhone‌ users will be able to zoom in and out by swiping left and right, focus with a light press, and activate recording with a harder press.

Today’s report claims that mass production of capacitive components will begin in the third quarter of this year; This is extremely late in Apple’s typical “iPhone” initial production run, so the order may be for the “iPhone” 17 series rather than models arriving this year. With everything we’ve seen on the iPhone 15 series, things could change quite a bit going forward, so watch this space.