What's the point of the power button?

[LoveToMacRumors]

In ios9, i used to click the power button slide anywhere on the screen.

Now even if i use the power button, i have to readjust my thumb to go down and press the home button ... wtf!

 

[C DM]

It's there to turn the screen off/lock the device, as well as to turn the device off and then to turn it on (and to help with a hard reset or recovery/DFU mode).

 

[gsmornot]

It will silence the ring on an incoming call or if double pressed send the caller to voicemail.

 

[Kjung7]

Don't you use it turn off/lock your phone? What about to power up/power down your phone? Your title kind of answers your question. It's a power button haha.

 

[pika2000]

I see what you are saying. The original idea of unlocking an iPhone would be pressing the power button, then slide to unlocked, as demoed by Steve Jobs.
However, I, and probably many other people, wake up my iPhone by pressing the home button (then slide to unlock). It's just more convenient as it is where my thumb already located when holding the phone. It is still jarring for devices without TouchID (like my iPhone 5) as now I have to press the home button twice. But for TouchID devices, it shouldn't be too different than before.

 

[pjarvi]

You can restore the press to Home functionality in Settings.