I always found taking pictures from an iPad, or just any other tablet, quite ridiculous. But Apple is apparently doubling down on the experience. A newly granted Apple patent titled “Input System for Portable Electronic Device” describes a pressure-sensitive button that can recognize taps, swipes, and full presses.
The technology bears a striking resemblance to the Camera Control Apple introduced with the iPhone 16 lineup, and most of the patent’s device drawings depict tablets rather than phones. While this doesn’t guarantee that Camera Control is heading to an iPad, the patent does include plenty of details that suggest otherwise.
Camera Control gets supersized?
Apple’s proposed system uses two strain-sensing elements to detect where pressure is being applied. A separate dome switch responds to a firmer press, allowing the same control to recognize different levels and types of input. Haptic feedback might accompany those interactions.
This implementation is the same as the one found in the newer iPhones. It allows the user to quickly launch the camera, capture photos, record video, and use lighter presses and swipes to manipulate photographic controls. The patent even specifies pressure thresholds of roughly 0.8 to 1.2 Newtons for the first level and 3.0 to 4.0 Newtons for the second. Across its 20 drawings and charts, AppleInsider found that only three depict iPhones, while tablet-shaped devices dominate the illustrations.
Is this where Camera Control truly belonged?
Camera Control has had a mixed reception on the iPhone. I can see the argument for putting it on an iPad, especially when the larger body provides substantially more room for manipulating a touch-sensitive control. We have tried using an iPad Air as a primary camera before, and the results were considerably better than the stereotype surrounding tablet photography might suggest.
A physical shutter control could also make scanning documents, shooting video, adjusting zoom, or capturing photos while holding the tablet horizontally easier than reaching across a large touchscreen. Though Apple hasn’t announced plans to put Camera Control on an iPad, and a granted patent offers no guarantee that it ever will.
