Originally Posted by
FlashBazbo
I don't think anyone said it was new. It's just something SRAM is stuck with until somebody else's patent expires.
I don't think the two button front shifting was to get around anyone's patents, it was just a way to get shifting for front and rear with just two buttons available to the user. There are only so many ways you can control three different things (rear up, rear down, toggle front) with just two buttons. With autorepeat already assigned to a long press, chording is pretty much the only thing left.
As it is, the old eTap did allow you to shift the front with a single button. The problem was that button was either on the side of the derailleur, or on the BlipBox controller, so you couldn't do it from their brake levers.
From what I hear, the new AXS app allows you to assign a front shift to a single button if you add a blip to your levers, getting around the two button limitation.