CheckMag | The iPhone 16 hardware camera button is the best thing to happen to Android smartphone photography in years

If you've ever looked into smartphones with physical shutter buttons, you'll likely have noticed that the Sony Xperia 1 and Sony Xperia 5 devices are about the only “major” Android phones around that still have a shutter button. It's peculiar that Android phones have gone this way as phones have become more camera-centric over the years, since a hardware button is an objectively better way to operate a camera than trying to tap a software shutter on a screen. 

A hardware shutter button allows you to focus and take a picture with a greater degree of control and stability, thanks to the fact that you don't have to move your fingers very far to activate the button. You're already holding onto the edged of the phone, so having the camera control right there means you can get a better grip on the phone and be more accurate with your photography. 

At Apple's Glowtime event this week, the company announced the new iPhone 16 and 16 Pro and Pro Max smartphones, all of which have a haptic “Camera Control” button. While it's not a traditional two-stage camera shutter button, like you'd find on something like the $990 Sony ZV-E10 II, it uses Apple's impressive haptic touchpad tech to simulate the same interaction, like half-press to focus and full-press for shutter release. The iPhone 16 series's shutter button goes the extra mile, though, adding features like a double tap action, sliding to zoom, and a press and hold to record a short video clip.

But those extra swipes, taps, and long-presses are all just extra icing on the hardware design cake — UI design that will undoubtedly give the iPhone 16 the best camera experience of any phone in 2024. Sony comes close, but, while the Xperia 1 VI (curr. $975 on Amazon) and Xperia 5 V (curr. $754 on Amazon) both have physical shutter buttons, delivering that improved ergonomics without compromising on IP ratings, they also have software limitations that make the camera app unintuitive to use for those unfamiliar with camera settings. 

Now that Apple has handily reinvented the shutter button, we're undoubtedly going to see a swath of Android phones implement a similar feature. Like clockwork, Nubia and Oppo have already promised that their next flagship phones will offer hardware shutter buttons. What smartphone photographers should look forward to most is when the likes of Xiaomi and Samsung add a physical shutter button to their flagship phones — after Samsung mocks it in a snarky ad, that is — because it's only a matter of time, now. 

Given that Oppo and OnePlus are both owned by the same company and generally share hardware designs, it's also reasonable to expect the flagship killer brand to also introduce a physical shutter button sometime soon. That's already three Android makers all but guaranteed to bring shutter buttons to their flagship phones, with two of the biggest brands also likely doing the same. Between those five brands, there's bound to be a range of devices to choose from to fit a variety of budgets and preferences. 

Samsung and Xiaomi would likely be the most exciting, though, given that they already rank among the best Android camera phones, thanks to strong image processing performance and overall superb camera hardware and performance.