Apple’s new iPhone 16 won’t have AI when it rolls out, but its new button is getting early users all excited instead

Early testers have been impressed by the camera control button.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple’s iPhone 16 will include a new camera control button, which has generated significant buzz.The button allows users to open the Camera app and zoom like a DSLR camera.Apple Intelligence features will roll out later, enhancing the camera control button.

Apple’s iPhone 16 has been touted as being a new frontier for the company — complete with AI. In fact, Apple Intelligence is being hailed as the feature that will drive iPhone sales over the next year.

But while the handset became available for preorder on Friday and will be in users’ hands by the end of next week, Apple Intelligence won’t actually roll out until October.

Sure, that might be kind of a letdown for some. However, the tech reviewers and content creators who descended on Apple Park to be the first to test out the iPhone 16 had something else that caught their eyes: the iPhone 16’s new button dedicated to its camera app, which looks like a hit.

“Coolest new iPhone 16 feature? The camera control button,” YouTuber iJustine said on X.

The camera control button allows iPhone owners to open the camera app with the click of a button, and it operates similarly to that of a DSLR camera. Users can slide their finger across it for camera controls, like zooming in or adjusting the focus, or press it to take a photo or video.

As more videos from inside Apple Park showed off the capabilities of the button, excitement online grew.

“concert girlies are going to lose their minds when they hear about this,” one X user said.

With this new button, the iPhone 16 has a total of five buttons including the action button, volume controls, and the power button.

Although it’s strictly for the camera right now, Apple’s Visual Intelligence teaser — where people were able to look up things by taking a picture — indicates that the camera control button will also be a way to access that feature once it becomes available.

Plus, Apple said that the camera control button will be functional in third-party apps that use the camera like Snapchat and Instagram. Tech enthusiasts are buzzing about it, though reviewer Marques Brownlee said he’s interested to see how useful it’ll end up being.

“I’m curious how many people are actually going to use this regularly,” Brownlee said in his iPhone 16 first impressions video. People can already zoom in or change the format of photos on their phones by using the screen, not the button.

Now that the iPhone 16 is available for preorder, we’ll see if the hype around the camera button continues once people have their new phone in hand.