Apple is adding a new low-energy chip to its upcoming iPhone 15 lineup that will provide an ultra-low power mode that will allow the handset’s new solid-state buttons to respond to touch even when the device’s battery is dead, says a new rumor.
The rumor says Apple’s super-low energy mode will allow the buttons to react to touch even when the battery is dead or the iPhone is switched off.
Apple’s A16 Bionic, and other A-series chips, already feature a similar energy-saving mode, designed to allow functions like Find My and Apple Pay can work when a battery is so exhausted that the phone has shut down. The new rumor says this functionality will be extended to the new handsets’ solid-state buttons.
“The new micro-processor that will ship in the 15 Pro models will not only manage those tasks,” claims leaker Anonymous A.S. on the MacRumors forum, “but will also be able to immediately sense capacitive button presses, holds, and even detect their own version of 3D Touch with the new volume up/down button, action (currently ringer switch) button, and power button, while the phone is dead or powered down.”
The leaker says that Apple is still testing whether or not to add Haptic feedback to the controls. The leaker also says the iPhone 15’s controls will include an “Action” button in place of the Mute switch.