(NEXSTAR) – Seven years after controversially ditching the home button, Apple is adding buttons back to its newest iPhone models.
The iPhone 16 (as well as the 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max) will have two new buttons that unlock new features, Apple announced Monday.
The first is called the “Action button.” It’s small and will be located on the side of the phone, above the buttons you use to turn the volume up and down.
What does the Action button do? That’s actually up to you. It’s customizable, so you can program the button to open the phone’s camera, flashlight, calendar, or other frequently used apps.
You can create a shortcut so the Action button helps you translate into a foreign language or identifies a song using Shazam. You can also link it with the Ford app to use the Action button to lock and unlock your car.
The new Action button replaces the switch found on older iPhone models, which turns silent mode on and off.
A few iPhone users have already had access to this feature. The Action button was also available on the iPhone 15 Pro released last year, but not the cheaper iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
The second button, called the Camera Control button, is brand new. It’s on the other side of the phone from the Action button, a little longer, and more sensitive.
As its name suggests, Camera Control is for taking pictures and video. You can click it once to take a photo, click it twice to start recording video, press it lightly to help frame your shot and zoom, and press it lightly twice to open other controls.
Later this year, when Apple launches a huge array of artificial intelligence features in a software update, Camera Control will have even more capabilities. Pressing and holding the button while pointing the camera at a restaurant, for example, will pull up ratings and opening hours. If you’re using the camera to look at an event flyer, and you press and hold the button, you’ll have the option to add the event to your calendar.
Another example shown in Monday’s video announcement showed a user pointing their camera at a dog. Pressing and holding the new button showed the dog’s breed and other information.
The iPhone 16 starts at $799 and the iPhone 16 Plus starts at $899. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max — which have larger displays, more processing power, and even more camera features — start at $999 and $1,199, respectively.
