New iPhone patent: Home button can pop out

Apple has filed a new patent for a small joystick hidden inside the iPhone's home button.

This is an interesting patent that looks like a regular iPhone home button, but when you press it hard enough to trigger its sensor, it will cause the home button to pop out and become a small analog joystick.

The joystick can get input on the X-axis, Y-axis, and even the Z-axis. In other words, it's a full-range control and clickable joystick.

This could change the landscape of iPhone gaming.

In the patent, Apple said that this joystick is not suitable for some specific games. For example, in some games, the tactile feedback of the pop-up Home button may be seriously insufficient.

Now that the iPhone Home button already has the fingerprint authentication function, will it be overwhelmed if the joystick function is added?

Of course, this joystick is just a patent.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.