Donald Trump berates Apple CEO Tim Cook for removing the iPhone home button

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• President Donald Trump on Friday criticized Apple CEO Tim Cook for removing the iPhone home button, which was removed in new models starting in 2017.
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• He tweeted: "To Tim: The Button on the IPhone was FAR better than the Swipe!"
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• Yes, you read that right.
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• It's not clear why Trump is bringing this up now.

President Donald Trump has launched a fresh feud against Apple CEO Tim Cook over an unusual topic: iPhone design.

On Friday afternoon, the US president fired off a tweet that slammed the technology executive over Apple's decision in 2017 to ditch the physical home button on the front of new models of the iPhone.

Trump wrote: "To Tim: The Button on the IPhone was FAR better than the Swipe!"

-Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2019

Since the first model in 2007, iPhones made use of a physical home button that took users back to the home screen. But a decade after the original phone came out, the 2017 edition of the iPhone, the iPhone X, became the first version to eschew the button in favor of swipe controls that require users to slide their fingers across the screen in various gestures.

It's not clear what prompted Trump to call out Apple's 58-year-old chief executive about the change now, more than two years after it was first implemented, and a White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. But the reality TV star turned politician has been vocal about smartphone design in the past.

Throughout 2013 and 2014, Trump tweeted numerous times about his belief that Apple should introduce an iPhone with a larger screen - something the company ultimately did, starting with the iPhone 6 Plus.

-Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2013

-Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2013

-Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2014

An Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.