Future iPhones may lose the Action button

A rumor worth watching for anyone following mobile product design: a tipster on Weibo claims Apple is planning to combine the Action button and Camera Control into a single button on next year's iPhones. The Action button, introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro and still present on the iPhone 18 Pro, would allegedly start disappearing from new iPhones in the second half of 2027. Under the reported plan, Camera Control would take over its role: a single press opens the Camera app, while a long press triggers the shortcut currently assigned to the Action button. Consolidating controls like this is a classic product trade-off, reducing physical clutter while asking users to rely on gestures and press patterns. The tipster is specific that the Action button is the one going away, not Camera Control. Rumors from single sources should be treated with caution until Apple confirms anything. For designers, product managers and accessory makers, it is a useful signal about how hardware controls may evolve.