iPhone 20 could set a new industry standard for smartphone design
Apple will celebrate its 20th anniversary for the iPhone in 2027 which is said to bring a major overhaul for that year’s iPhone release. It would have been the iPhone 19 but speculation suggests that Apple will go the same direction as it did with the iPhone X and call the 20th anniversary iPhone, the iPhone 20. More importantly, the iPhone 20 has been tipped to be completely free of buttons, which could set a new industry standard for smartphones.
The Cupertino giant was expected to bring solid state buttons with the iPhone 15 Pro but that never became a reality. Four years later, with the iPhone 20, the company is expected to finally execute on this plan and bring a major design change with the 20th anniversary iPhone. With solid state buttons, there is no physical press like with all current smartphone buttons. The input feedback will be delivered to the user via haptics. This information comes courtesy of known leaker Setsuna Digital (or Instant Digital) over on Weibo (machine translated from Chinese).
The leaker states that functional verification for this tech has been completed and that mass production will start with the iPhone 20 in 2027. This change will bring haptic feedback for the volume buttons, Side button, Action button, and Camera Control. The leaker adds that the Camera Control will be simplified with the iPhone 18 by retaining only the pressure sensing layer. Then, with the iPhone 20, this will be replaced by piezoelectric ceramics for localized vibration feedback.
To deliver precise haptics on these buttons, Apple is said to use vibrations from the back or the frame of the phone along with AI sound compensation algorithms. One major benefit of using this tech is that there will be no mechanical wear and tear since there are no physical button movements. Furthermore, it will produce an uninterrupted frame for a cleaner, more glass slab like look.
If Apple does go through with this for the iPhone 20, it could push other manufacturers to do the same, as has been the case with other Apple pioneered tech in the past. As more brands implement similar functionality, it will eventually become an industry standard, though exclusive to premium offerings during initial adoption. This would be a major design change for smartphones in general since the introduction of the foldables.
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