The Apple iPhone 16 could feature capacitive buttons like those rumored for the iPhone 15

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro might have only been on sale since September of 2023, but there is already a lot to look forward to when their replacements are released this coming fall. If Apple sticks to its usual release pattern we can expect it to make the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro available to the public this coming September, and that means that we only have a few short months left to wait. What's more, we're starting to hear more and more about what those new iPhones might have to offer potential buyers.

According to a new report by Economic Daily News, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, has won an order to provide system-in-package, or SIP, components that will be used to integrate with new Taptic Engines on the new iPhones. Taptic Engines are Apple's vibration motors and it's now thought that there will be two additional motors used in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. The new Taptic Engines will reportedly be placed at the edges of the iPhones, one on each side. The reason? It's thought that Apple is finally going to bring capacitive buttons to the iPhone.

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The prospect of capacitive buttons on an iPhone isn't new, of course. We first heard that Apple was going to use capacitive buttons on the iPhone 15, replacing the clicky power and volume buttons. That never happened, but this latest report suggests that Apple has revisited that approach and will instead bring capacitive power and volume buttons to the iPhone 16 lineup.

It isn't yet clear whether they will be the only buttons that go the capacitive route, however. The iPhones are expected to all have Action buttons as well as a new Capture button, and it's possible that all of them could become capacitive.

This wouldn't be the first time that Apple has used a Taptic Engine with a capacitive button, of course. The iPhone 7 had a capacitive Home button that vibrated to mimic a click while the trackpads that are built into Apple's laptops also use the same Taptic Engine approach.

If Apple sticks to the usual release cadence, it will announce the new iPhones in the early part of September before making them available to buy around 10 days later. The Apple Watch X and a refreshed Apple Watch Ultra are also likely to be part of that release as well, but details are so far hard to come by on that front.