The iPhone 15 Pro is now expected to feature a two-button design for the volume, and the mute switch is still replaced by the button

Apple decided to make a last-minute design update for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max, and the two devices will not have the unified volume button that has been rumored for the past several weeks, according to a Unknown 21. Instead, the iPhone 15 Pro models‌ will have a two-button design for the volume unit, which will look similar to the two-button design on the iPhone 14 Pro models.

While Apple plans to return to two buttons instead of the planned unified volume button, there will still be a change to the mute switch. Instead of a toggle, Apple will use a physical button. Internally, this button has been referred to as the “ring button” or “action button,” and rumors have suggested it could be a customizable button similar to the Apple Watch Ultra Action button.

Until earlier this week, Apple was still working on a unified solid-state volume button that would offer haptic feedback rather than an actual button mechanism. Apple ditched the solid-state button design on Tuesday, and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the change was due to “unresolved technical issues.”

At the time, Kuo said that Apple would return to the “traditional physical button design”, but it was not clear whether Apple would continue to use the unified button it designed or whether the company would switch back to a two-button design. Unknownz21 sources learned today that Apple will choose to return to two buttons, delaying the unified button design until the iPhone 16 Pro.

earlier in the day, Mac rumors A common render of what the iPhone 15 Pro‌ models would have looked like with a unified volume button design. This is the design that Apple planned to use for most of the development of the iPhone 15 Pro‌, and just this week the change was made to go back to the old design.

Unfortunately, we were working on these renders before we got the news about the solid-state button change, and it wasn’t until after the renders were published that we heard about Apple’s revised plans for the buttons. The renders we’ve shared now represent the solid-state button design that Apple planned to use on the iPhone 15 Pro‌, which won’t be the final design.

The renders offer a look at what the design might have been had Apple stuck with solid-state tech, and feature the button design Apple is likely adopting for the iPhone 16 Pro models. Despite the delays for now, Apple continues to work on the tactile buttons, and the company is expected to implement the technology in next year’s iPhone Pro models.

Apple will be using the standard mechanical buttons for both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models‌, but as mentioned earlier, the mute button on renders remains accurate. It is expected that Apple will use the mute button instead of the mute switch for the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ lineup. These design changes can be made because the devices are still in the engineering verification testing phase and have not made it to final production.

Apple has created some iPhone 15 Pro models‌ that have the solid-state buttons and volume button design that we shared, and these will be used internally for testing to ensure that the technology is ready for the ‌iPhone 16‌ lineup.

Renderings, case maker dummies, CADs, and other leaked information depicting a uniformly sized button are now obsolete due to a late shift in Apple’s design. Late-stage design changes are unusual for Apple, but they do happen when there are issues with a feature that can’t be resolved at launch.

For example, AirPower was completely scrapped after Apple was unable to get it to work as intended. Back in 2011, rumors circulated of a teardrop design for the iPhone‌ 5 that didn’t work out after Apple opted for a different design, and with the third generation iPod touch, Apple added a camera during the design stages and then removed it from the final product.

There are still a number of new features being rumored for the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ models, such as a titanium frame, faster A17 chip, periscope lens technology (‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max only), thinner screen bezels, and a USB-C port instead of the Lightning port.