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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Apple has been granted a licence for the development of touch-sensitive, solid-state buttons that would allow users to navigate an iPhone using its edges, rather than its display alone, Apple Insider reports.
Titled “Electronic Devices With Display And Touch Sensor Structures,” the licence detailed how control circuits, batteries and other components would sit within the walls of an iPhone chassis.
The walls, according to the report, may have opaque portions and transparent portions, which may include opaque plastic, metal, fiber-composite materials and layers of other materials.
iPhone 15, specifically the Pro and Ultra models might get haptic volume and power buttons that don’t physically move, and this new Apple patent added further fuel to that fire.
Apple explained how touch sensors would sit within sidewalls as opposed to conventional walls, made up of thin metal lines that are sufficiently small to be invisible to the eye.