There have been contradictory speculations on the placement of the fingerprint scanner on the rumored and the highly anticipated iPhone 8. Some rumors have claimed that the Touch ID sensor will be embedded under the display of iPhone 8. Other sources have said that it would be placed at the rear side of the iPhone 8. There are other rumors that claim that it would be integrated in the Power button. Recent reports have also suggested that Apple may eliminate the Touch ID sensor to replace it with 3D facial recognition on the iPhone 8. Newer information that have surfaced from the early firmware update for HomePod has revealed that the iPhone 8’s display will not be embedded with Touch ID sensor.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/892182949487104001
Troughton Smith, an iOS developers who had unearthed some information of the upcoming iPhone 8 through the firmware update of HomePod smart speaker has claimed that he could not find any information that suggests that there will be under-the-display Touch ID sensor on the smartphone. He is of the view that the Cupertino company may kill the Touch ID sensor feature on the iPhone 8 possibly because of production problems.
Since references of infrared facial recognition were found in the code of Apple’s HomePod, it seems that the Touch ID would be replaced by 3D facial recognition. The image of the iPhone 8 that was found in the code of the firmware revealed that it will be arriving with a full-screen display. The realistic leaked renders of the iPhone 8 that appeared in the last month have also shown that the iPhone 8 would be equipped with an edge-to-edge screen.
Some interesting related strings (I’m guessing you’ve come across these) pic.twitter.com/Go5ZVFlzea
— Jeff Grossman (@Jeffrey903) August 1, 2017
Troughton Smith and another IOS developer named Jeffery Grossman have also found that references of split in the UIStatusBar in the firmware code. The references indicate that the small portion of screen present on the left and right sides of u-shaped top bezel will show information like battery status, network strength, Bluetooth status, and time.
Another feature that Troughton-Smith has managed to find in HomePod’s firmware is that the iPhone 8 may come with “Tap to Wake” feature that will allow users to double tap on the screen to activate it. This could be a replacement for waking the iPhone by touching the Home button. Also, instead of the physical Home button, the iPhone 8 may appear with a virtual (on-screen) Home button that will be available in the function area at the bottom of the display.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/892181610774376449
The alleged iPhone 8 is speculated to debut with iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus in September. Rumors have also revealed that the Apple could be also working on iPhone SE 2 and it may debut in Q1 next year.
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