How does the button layout of the iPhone 16 Pro differ from that of the iPhone 15 Pro, and according to MacRumors, it doesn't look much different.

The site, which has seen many prototype designs for upcoming smartphones, reports that Apple is sticking to what it knows. The latest "Proto2" design is said to "mirror the iPhone 15 Pro's action buttons" with separate volume up and volume down buttons.

Apple's tried-and-true alternatives apparently included various combinations of unified volume buttons, independent volume buttons, and larger action buttons (sometimes flush with the frame, sometimes not).

More importantly, the site concludes that this withdrawal suggests that Apple has given up on capacitive action buttons in the next generation." A design change this significant indicates that it has been canceled or postponed for future iPhone iterations," the report says.

That's a small blow for Apple. Capacitive buttons have no moving parts, making them more reliable. They also have the potential to be more flexible, allowing different functions depending on how hard they are pressed.

However, the lack of obvious changes to the action buttons does not mean that the phone will be the same as the previous model; MacRumors reports that the Capture button (although not capacitive) is still present and included on the other side of the phone and mentions.

While the word "Capture" button might automatically lead one to believe it is for taking pictures, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes it is actually for video recording only.

Whether you can reprogram it for anything else remains to be seen, but if Apple expects you to fill your iPhone with video clips, you're up from 128 gigabytes of basic storage this time best hope (or be prepared to pay for more iCloud space).

While some analysts believe the iPhone 16 will be an underwhelming update, it is still early days for Apple's next smartphone. For more than a decade, Apple has chosen September as the month in which the iPhone will be refreshed (with the exception of 2020, when a once-in-a-generation pandemic pushed the launch to October).