Apple has officially discontinued the Home button across its entire iPhone lineup, marking a significant shift in navigation design. The new iPhone 16e, announced today, features full-screen, gesture-based navigation, replacing the traditional Home button.
The move brings an end to a design element that was first introduced on the original iPhone in 2007. Initially, the Home button provided physical navigation input, bringing users back to their Home screen with a double-click and adding other behaviors with triple-clicks.
As technology advanced, Apple replaced the physical Home button with Touch ID on the iPhone 5s in 2013 and later introduced a solid-state version without a physical click. The iPhone 7 used haptic feedback from the Taptic Engine to simulate a convincing button click.
The shift towards gesture-based navigation began with the launch of the iPhone X in 2017, which was followed by iPhones sold with Home buttons being phased out over time. The latest iPhone SE models were the last ones to retain this design feature.
The new iPhone 16e is priced $200 lower than its predecessor, with Apple Intelligence support included. This move marks a significant step forward for Apple’s navigation design, bringing consistency across all iPhone models currently sold.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2025/02/19/apple-just-discontinued-one-of-its-most-iconic-inventions