Apple's Rumoured 20th-Anniversary iPhone Redesign Could Keep Camera Control While Dropping the Action Button

Apple may strip the dedicated Action button from its 2027 iPhone Pro models and fold its features into Camera Control, according to a leak reported on 6 November 2026. The change is said to form part of a wider redesign for the handset's 20th anniversary.

A new claim from Weibo user Instant Digital, reported by MacRumors, suggests Apple intends to merge the two controls' functions, although the company has not announced such a move or confirmed which models might be affected.

Why Apple's 2027 iPhone Might Lose Its Action Button

Under the claimed arrangement, pressing Camera Control would continue to launch the camera, while pressing and holding it would trigger a customisable shortcut. The dedicated Action button would disappear, but some of its functions could remain available through the surviving control.

Apple introduced the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023, replacing the Ring/Silent switch. Users can assign it to features including Silent mode, Focus, the torch and Shortcuts. Camera Control debuted with the iPhone 16 lineup in 2024, offering a way to open the camera, take pictures and adjust settings.

Combining the controls would change how users access those shortcuts, rather than necessarily removing them. Whether every existing option would remain available is unknown.

The proposed long-press gesture also presents a complication. On compatible iPhones, holding Camera Control currently opens Visual Intelligence, Apple's feature for obtaining information about objects and places. Inside the Camera app, holding the button can start recording video.

MacRumors noted that Visual Intelligence is also available through the Camera app in iOS 27, potentially leaving room for Apple to reassign the gesture. That does not establish how a redesigned button would distinguish between shortcuts and camera functions.

Camera Control has drawn mixed reactions since launch, with some reviewers questioning its ergonomics and the number of interactions it supports. Adding another shortcut could expand its usefulness, but could also require users to learn a different set of gestures.

Apple has not confirmed the leak, supplied technical details or said whether a change would reach production.

Anniversary Redesign Rumours Still Taking Shape

The button speculation comes alongside separate reports about an extensive redesign for Apple's anniversary iPhones.

In August 2026, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was developing Pro models with glass on the front and back curving into the sides around a thin metal band. The design was described as part of a broader effort to change the appearance of the premium handset.

Other reports have described a four-edge curved or nearly borderless look. However, a subsequent account attributed to leaker Digital Chat Station suggested the visual effect could use curved cover glass over a flat display, rather than a panel bending around the edges.

Those accounts remain unconfirmed. There is also no established engineering link between a potential glass redesign and the removal of the Action button.

Instant Digital placed the reported button change in the second half of 2027. That timing would fall in the iPhone's 20th-anniversary year, two decades after Apple introduced the original model in 2007.

Apple has not announced the official name of its anniversary iPhones. Suggestions of an iPhone 19 Pro or iPhone 20 Pro remain speculative, as do the reported button and display changes.