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I’ve always been a little confused about launching Camera Control on the iPhone 16. It’s one of those features that generally feels pretty redundant, especially since there are already better ways to quickly launch the Camera app that Apple hasn’t bothered with yet. Well, the good news is that the standalone camera control button could be on the way out, or at least it could be after a leak.
Leaker Instant Digital posted about this on their Weibo account, noting that the camera control and action buttons could be merged as soon as next year’s iPhone 20. The new button will apparently launch the camera with a single tap, while press-and-hold will open whatever action button setting you have mapped. There is no mention of touch sensitivity, or any of the other camera control functions currently available.
Instant Digital clarifies that this means the action button is rolled into the camera control, rather than the other way around. This presumably means that the button will remain on the bottom right of the phones, in the place that the camera control currently occupies. That said, whichever way this happens, I’m all for it, because I’ve never liked Camera Control.
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We never needed Camera Control in the first place
I’ve used iPhones on and off for years, since before the Camera Control button was added to the iPhone 16 series two years ago. Apple marketed this button as a way to go directly to the camera with a single click and adjust camera features with your finger — rather than the touchscreen controls.
Apple did not come up with the idea of a special camera button, which has existed for years on smartphones, but mostly failed. Instead, phones have better ways to access the camera using the existing button layout — including the well-known “double tap” gesture on an Android phone’s power button.
Of course, the camera control was meant for more. It used to be a way to access Visual Intelligence until it was rolled into the camera app as “Siri Mode”, and adjust various different camera levels without tapping on the screen.
Although, in my experience with recent iPhones, this has never been particularly attractive. The on-screen controls always felt faster and easier, especially since I could adjust things like zoom without taking my hands off the phone itself.
It’s really not that hard to do, and I never felt the need to use the camera control knob to the fullest extent of its capabilities. The older ways were simpler and easier to do, and didn’t require much at first. Plus, the volume keys were (and still are) a valid way to activate the shutter for photos and video.
I never quite understood why Apple felt the need to add that extra button on the side of the iPhone when better alternatives were already being used. Especially after all the rumors that suggested that Apple is trying to eliminate buttons altogether.
The combination of buttons is the perfect middle ground
I admit, in the same way that I don’t care about the Camera Control button, there are a lot of people who do. In fact, some of them have already taken to social media sites like Reddit to discuss their own feelings about the Action Button and Camera Control – many of them lamenting the fact that the current iterations may be lost.
I get it to an extent, but it still feels like the iPhones are getting a little too chunky for my liking, especially on the smaller models. That’s assuming you ignore all the rumors about a possible third button on the iPhone 17, which didn’t happen because it would have been a step too far.
The features offered are not necessarily bad, but there are better ways to implement them. Combining the camera control and the action button together is a good way to do it. After all, the Action Button is triggered by a long press, while the Camera Control opens your camera with a single or double press. There’s no reason why the two can’t live in harmony as a single dual-purpose button.
Of course, turning the camera control button into an action button means that Siri Mode needs a new shortcut. Currently, pressing and holding the camera button launches the camera app in Apple’s AI camera mode, just as it launched Visual Intelligence before the release of iOS 27.
Also, you can’t use the action button when the camera is open, because that action is already reserved for recording video – and no one wants to get rid of that. I’m guessing that the emphasis on the claim that the Action Button becomes part of the Camera Control means that the last touch-sensitive controls will remain for people who actually use them.
Sure, it will take some getting used to, no matter how old your current iPhone might be, but I think it will be the more efficient option in the long run. I just hope they choose a more meaningful place, because the bottom right of an iPhone doesn’t really call “action” to me.
Bottom line
The one thing that needs to be made very clear is that this is an unverified rumor. Instant Digital doesn’t have a bad reputation, but that doesn’t mean they have a 100% track record, and we’re still pretty early in the iPhone 20 development cycle. So, in other words, there is no guarantee that Apple will actually make this change with the iPhone 20.
Especially when you remember all the other Camera Control rumors that never came true, and the fact that the iPhone 20 is also rumored to swap buttons for haptic sensors. If all the phone rumors we’ve heard were true, these devices would be a complete mess.
Nevertheless, I would very much like to see this. The action button is useful, and I don’t want to see that, but there are a lot of people who also like the camera control button – even if I don’t really care for it myself. If you want to keep both, you can also merge them into a single, easy-to-use button.
At least it will look and feel neater than picking up the iPhone with more buttons than a keyboard.
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