The Camera Control button on the iPhone 17 may be its last appearance, as a historically sketchy leaker claims it is being removed to save costs.
Introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro models, Camera Control provided a shutter button on the body of the iPhone. If a leaker is to be believed, it may be a feature that only survived two generations.
In a Tuesday post to Weibo, leaker "OvO" writes that the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro may be the last models to have Camera Control. The post says that Apple had told its suppliers that it won't be ordering camera control buttons anymore.
As for why the button is going away, the leaker explains that Apple had investigated the feature and discovered that users don't actually use it that often. More improvements could also be made to the button, the leaker adds.
As a byproduct of the button's removal, it could also help Apple reduce the cost of manufacturing.
Like many other Weibo-based leakers, "OvO" doesn't have much of a track record when it comes to self-sourced leaks, and there's no guarantee that this one is sourced by themselves. Typically, Weibo leakers are aggregators of fakes and leaks from elsewhere, and tend to opt for quantity over accuracy.
The claim is also harder to believe due to being in isolation in the rumor mill. Other more trustworthy rumor and leak sources who do supply chain checks would typically report on this sort of change, so their absence works against this rumor's favor.
