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As for the iPhone 16, reports suggest that many new features will be specific to the Pro models this year. But if Bloomberg’s often accurate reports turn out to be true, there’s reason to look forward to the standard iPhone 16 as well, especially if it gets the iPhone 15 Pro’s action button.

An action button is exactly what it sounds like: a shortcut button that can be used to trigger certain actions. Apple brings you several customizations in the iPhone settings menu. Such options include silencing your phone, opening the camera, turning on the flashlight, activating the magnifying glass, translating phrases, recording a voice memo, using an accessibility feature, or turning on Do Not Disturb mode (or another Focus mode) of your choice).

But as I wrote last week, you can do a lot more with the action button—like order coffee from Dunkin’ or Starbucks—using Apple’s Shortcuts app.

Apple doesn’t add new buttons to the iPhone very often, so expanding the action button to the iPhone 16 would be a big deal. This will make the iPhone experience more consistent across the board, while also making it easier to multitask and jump between apps.

Read more: I hope these 2 iPad Pro features make it to the iPhone

Why the action button belongs on all iPhones

The biggest reason why the action button should come to the iPhone 16 is simple: it’s actually useful. You can program it to do almost anything you want in the Shortcuts app on the iPhone, opening up a lot of possibilities.

Aside from its utility, it also brings a level of customization that we haven’t really seen on an iPhone before. All iPhone buttons are designed for a specific purpose: adjust the volume, turn off or lock your iPhone, activate Siri, navigate back to the home screen, unlock your phone, or authorize a purchase with Apple Pay.

But Apple leaves the purpose of the action button up to the user, within reason of course. Its role really depends on what you do most often on your phone. In addition to ordering my morning coffee, I used the action button as a shortcut to call my husband or FaceTime my sister, launch ChatGPT voice mode, and start a timer.

Having this level of customization is important because the iPhone lacks the multitasking capabilities found on Android devices. Aside from the Picture-in-Picture feature for using apps while watching a YouTube video or during a FaceTime call, there’s no way to open more than one app at once on the screen like you can on Android or iPad. It’s also uncertain whether Apple will ever release a foldable iPhone with a larger internal screen to run more apps, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold.

The arrival of the action button on the standard iPhone combined with Dynamic Island (which will trickle down to non-Pro iPhones in 2023) could make it easier to get things done without lots of taps and swipes or frequent switching between apps.

Bringing the action button to the regular iPhone would also create a more consistent iPhone experience across Apple’s lineup. One of the advantages the iPhone offers over Android is that the software and hardware functionality is largely the same whether you’re using an iPhone from five years ago or a year ago.

Of course, the newer models will have longer battery life, more sophisticated cameras, higher-quality screens, and improved designs compared to the iPhones of years past. But the software and the way you operate the iPhone have largely remained the same from year to year, with the exception of 2017 when Apple got rid of the home button with the iPhone X. Establishing the action button as the norm across models of The iPhone would further standardize the iPhone experience.

The iPhone 16 is not expected to change much

Part of the reason the action button is shaping up to be the most significant addition to the iPhone 16 is that it’s largely expected to be a modest upgrade over the iPhone 15. The iPhone 16 could get a new processor, possibly called the A18 chip, according to analyst Jeff Pu, reported by MacRumors.

The other headline-grabbing iPhone 16 rumors that have surfaced so far appear to be specific to the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. For example, Bloomberg reports that there will be a new video capture button, though it’s unclear if it will arrive on all iPhone 16 models. The Pro versions will also get larger screens, according to Bloomberg and MacRumors, while the regular Pro with a smaller size is also expected to get a tetraprism telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

As I’ve written in the past, the biggest iPhone upgrade this year looks to be Apple’s next software upgrade, likely to be called iOS 18. The update is expected to introduce a slew of new AI-powered features, possibly including a revamped Siri that can control your apps, news summaries and notifications, and AI-generated emoticons among other features, Bloomberg reports.

With that in mind, the iPhone 16’s rumored action button looks like the most exciting new hardware addition for those who don’t want to spend money on a Pro. From its telephoto camera to its titanium design, always-on display and optional 1TB storage, there’s already a lot that separates the iPhone Pro from the regular iPhone. The action button has proven its worth and now deserves a place on all future iPhones.