I hope Android phones in 2026 fix Apple's biggest iPhone mistake
The iPhone 16 Pro camera control was a flop, but Android makers have had enough time to cook up their own version and I'm hoping it's great.
(Image credit: Shutterstock (Karlis Dambrans) / Future / Shutterstock (Wongsakorn 2468))
To predict what Android phones will look like in 2026, I don’t look at last year’s phones. I look at the best phones of 2024. Phones usually have an 18-month development cycle, so this year’s new phones will be informed by the best phone from the latter half of 2024 – the iPhone 16 Pro. That iPhone brought us major innovation from Apple, and this is the year I’m hoping to see Android finally steal a huge feature that Apple screwed up.
The iPhone doesn’t change often, so adding or taking away a button is major. Big iPhone redesigns are usually five years apart, at least. The iPhone 4 refined the design. The iPhone X (ten) finally removed the Home button. Then, the iPhone 15 Pro changed the mute switch to an Action Button.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max with its Camera Control button (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
None of those changes got me as excited as the rumors in 2024. The iPhone 16 Pro introduced the Camera Control. I’d been hoping for a proper camera button on a phone for years – even decades. I’m sure a proper shutter button would be just the thing to improve phone photography.
Unfortunately, what Apple gave us in 2024 did not live up to my expectations. The Camera Control is a flop. I never use it – not on purpose. I press it by accident every day. If it worked the way I’d hoped, I’d use it often, but Apple failed to deliver a proper shutter button.
Here's how the Camera Control button would work if Apple did it right
The Ricoh GR IIIx with its big shutter button up top (Image credit: Future)
When you use a real camera, here’s how the shutter button works: First you hold that button down halfway, until you feel a bit of resistance. Pressing the button halfway tells your camera to focus. Then you squeeze the rest of the way to take the photo.
That’s how Apple’s Camera Control button should work. It doesn’t, so you don’t get the biggest benefit of a shutter button: stability.
Hands move and shake. Cameras take photos at speeds that are a tiny fraction of a second - 1/30th of a second is a relatively slow camera shutter speed – so a little movement isn’t noticeable. Pressing the camera button moves your phone more than a little.
