The Alert Slider, which has been on most OnePlus phones (it disappeared for the OnePlus 10T) for the last decade, lets you quickly switch between normal, mute, and vibrate-only modes. Lau says the slider is “a huge piece of hardware just to switch sound profiles,” and that a “smarter, customizable button” could enable “a more personalized experience.” The change will be “for the better,” he adds later.
Lau doesn’t say what phones the button will appear on or when. He does call out that the button will still let people switch sound profiles without waking their phone — something he says was non-negotiable — and promises the button will work well for both power users and those who “prefer simplicity.”
Given that, it’s easy to imagine OnePlus doing something similar to the Action Button Apple introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro. The Action Button has a few pre-set options tied to a long-press, like silencing your phone or turning on the flashlight, but can also run complex iOS Shortcut automations, which I nerdily enjoy.
