If you're still having trouble getting used to the Action button that Apple introduced on its Pro iPhones in late 2023 and standard models earlier this year, we have some bad news: the discovery of a surprising patent application portends future versions of the iPhone. can be equipped with multiple such buttons. We might even have action buttons on iPad and Mac.
Patent application 20240393933 was filed by Apple in May, but was not published (and quickly spotted by Patently Apple) until the end of November. It covers what it cryptically calls “Devices, methods and graphical user interfaces for setting up a configurable input region”, but it becomes apparent upon further investigation that this means customizable handset buttons.
The accompanying illustrations show the three hardware buttons located on the left edge of what appears to be an iPhone. Currently, only the topmost action button is user-configurable, while the volume up and down buttons are (mostly) locked to these functions. But in the drawings, all three offer this functionality: in this image, for example, the volume down button is used to call a contact.
Apple
But there's an interesting bonus to this story, which is that the Action button might stop being an iPhone exclusive. “In some embodiments,” the patent states, “the apparatus is a portable communications device [such as] the iPhone… and the iPad. Other portable electronic devices, such as laptops or tablets with touch surfaces, etc. are possibly used.
In other words, get ready for action buttons everywhere! Or not, because patent activity, as always, is not necessarily an indicator of future decisions, but simply shows a path that the company has considered (and wants to prevent competitors from following it). It may decide that the upgrade would be too costly or require too many development resources that could be better deployed elsewhere. Or change may come but it will take several years for it to happen.
