Enlarge / Buttons on the side of an Apple Watch Series 3. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
FastCompany published a report today citing “a source with direct knowledge” of Apple’s plans for a future Apple Watch that will feature solid-state, touch-sensitive buttons instead of the clickable ones that are currently part of the device.
This will apply to both the crown and the single traditional button that brings up a view of currently opened apps. But the button configuration—which buttons exist, and where they’re located—will not change, the report says. The user will be able to touch each button to register it, but instead of the buttons moving up and down, the device will give the user haptic feedback using Apple’s taptic engine.
Apple made a similar change to the home button on the iPhone starting with the iPhone 7. Reactions were mixed, from critics who found it to be just fine to critics who found it to be undesirable. Even before that, the company did the same with MacBook trackpads, though that implementation offered better, localized feedback.
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