Apple beat writer tells us what the mystery "Capture" button will do on the iPhone 16 series

We have heard for some time now that Apple will include a new button on the iPhone 16 series called the "Capture" button. Just a few weeks ago, we told you that Apple planned on placing this button on the right side of the handset under the power button. It also will be a capacitive button with haptic feedback that will go to work when it feels the touch of a user's finger and at the time we said that it probably will be used to quickly snap a photo similar to a shutter button, and to start a video recording.

During his weekly "Power On" newsletter that was released today, Bloomberg's Apple beat writer Mark Gurman said that the 2024 iPhone models will get a dedicated button for shooting video. That makes perfect sense for a button called "Capture." Interestingly, Gurman didn't say anything about the button being used to snap still photographs so the only thing that Gurman expects is that the button will be used to start video recording.

In the U.S., the placement of the button on the right side of the phone is forcing Apple to move the antenna for high-band mmWave 5G signals to the left side of the phone below the Action button and the volume buttons. Non-U.S. versions of the iPhone 16 don't have an mmWave antenna that is being displaced by the "Capture" button.

While not mentioned by Gurman today, the recent update to iOS 17.2 gave the rear cameras on the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max the ability to record immersive spatial video using the Wide and Ultra-wide cameras together. When played back using the Vision Pro headsets, these videos appear in 3D and can be shown on a virtual screen so big that you will feel like you have gone back in time to the moment that you recorded the video and are experiencing it all over again.

With renders of the the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus showing the rear cameras returning to the vertical setup last seen on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, such a placement will also allow the non-Pro iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus to record in spatial video along with the Pro models.