DEV Community

Cover image for Your Next iPhone Might Be All Screen and Magic, Saying Goodbye to Ports and Buttons.
Mas'ud Hashim
Mas'ud Hashim

Posted on

Your Next iPhone Might Be All Screen and Magic, Saying Goodbye to Ports and Buttons.

Apple has made tremendous progress toward their goal of creating an iPhone without ports and buttons. Apple has steadily done away with some connectors and buttons over time, allowing for a more streamlined, svelte gadget.

A phone without ports or buttons may initially seem intimidating. How would you charge it? Take a screenshot using what method? Nevertheless, in reality, Apple has been preparing the framework for this kind of design for years.

Apple has already made strides toward creating an iPhone without ports and buttons, as shown by these few examples:

  1. Headphone Jacks: When the iPhone 7 was released, Apple did away with the conventional headphone jack in favor of wireless headphones or headphones that linked via the lightning connection. The release of Apple's AirPods, which offer a wireless audio option on which many customers have grown to rely, made the choice to eliminate the headphone connection simpler.

  2. Buttons: Physical buttons have been gradually taken out in favor of haptic-touch buttons on Apple's iPhones. For instance, in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, the home button was switched out for a haptic-touch button, and in the iPhone X, it was completely removed. The volume control and power buttons might be converted to haptic-touch buttons using the same strategy that was used to convert the physical buttons on the home button. This would improve its integration. This change was made to expand the screen while also simplifying the design.

  3. charging ports: With the addition of MagSafe in the iPhone 12, Apple has made it quite obvious that it intends to get rid of the charging port completely. The iPhone 8 was the first smartphone to support wireless charging. This action not only makes things easier for users.  Also, "Siri" (Apple's virtual assistant) will make it much simpler to use the iPhone because it can be used to control several parts of the phone, like volume adjustments, screenshots, and more. With the release of Apple's new 2nd-generation airpods pro, which have volume controls, Apple may increase the functionality even further by enabling features like Face ID to unlock the smartphone or turn it off, further reducing the need for buttons.

  4. SIM tray: The iPhone 14 is the first iPhone without a physical SIM card slot because it uses e-SIM technology instead. This change enables the design to be more streamlined and seamless.

watch MKBHD's video here

Apple has a solution for this as well, even if the charging connector is still required for recovery and other cloud-related duties. The back of the iPad Pro contains a number of contact points that enable peripherals like the Magic Keyboard to be connected without the use of a connector. Apple might develop this technology further and include more contact points in the iPhone to increase connectivity and functionality.

With the advent of 5G in 2020 featured in apple's iPhone12, users will be able to share data almost instantly and smoothly between devices utilizing airdrop.

To sum up, Apple has already made significant progress toward an iPhone without ports or buttons. It's feasible that the upcoming iPhone will be the most streamlined and user-friendly model yet as technology continues to advance. Apple is giving users a cleaner and more fluid experience by getting rid of ports and buttons, and we can't wait to see what additional innovations the company has in store.

--written by Mas'ud Hashim & AI
connect with me

Top comments (0)