Three Android phone manufacturers have announced camera control buttons similar to the one found on iPhone 16. As noted by Tom’s Guide: Realme, Oppo and Nubia will potentially be introducing buttons similar to the one hyped up by Apple for its newest phones.
We’ve already seen Realme’s camera control button for a supposedly unannounced phone. The video, shared by Realme VP Chase Xu, showed off a button that mimicked what the camera button does on iPhone. Xu said that the button could quickly open up the camera app and showed how it could be used to zoom in and out and take photos.
Meanwhile, a very popular Samsung leaker showed us that Oppo’s upcoming Find X8 phones will reportedly feature a similar button. This button is being dubbed the “Quick Button” for now, though that is subject to change.
Camera control button allows easy accessibility to various functions. | Image credit — Apple
Other phones have had similar buttons in the past but they didn’t see competing brands rush to introduce their own versions of those buttons. Apple, perhaps on account of being such a massive corporation, often sets trends in the industry without even meaning to.
The VR industry, for example, picked up the pace once Apple Vision Pro came out. Former Oculus CTO Hugo Barra said that he used to joke that Apple entering the VR industry would be the best possible thing for VR’s growth.
The same seems to be the case with the phone industry. You might hate the iPhone with a passion and you might wish for Apple to go bankrupt but you can’t deny that other brands rush to mimic the company whenever they can. Something that hasn’t always turned out for the better: I hate the notch and I dearly miss the headphone jack.
And like I said before, all the more power to them. Not everyone can afford an iPhone for a gimmick they might be interested in. And that’s precisely what the camera control button is in my opinion: a gimmick not worth the upgrade from iPhone 15.