A new photo has emerged strengthening recently circulating rumor that this year’s iPhones will come with Home buttons integrating the Force Touch pressure-sensitive technology.
NowhereElse.fr editor Steve Hemmerstoffer has shared a new photo which – having appeared on the Chinese social media site Weibo – shows, on the left hand side, an alleged iPhone 7 front panel.
Purported #iPhone7 front panel (left) with seemingly different Home button edging… https://t.co/Qi1dtDy9kL pic.twitter.com/UguHfQeTVA
— Steve Hemmerstoffer (@stagueve) July 23, 2016
Looking closely at where a Home button cutout would usually be, there’s a familiar circular outline, but not strictly a cutout. The intricate pattern on the laptop under the panel is not visible within the circle, unlike the case with the right-hand panel. This other panel is presumably from a current iPhone and placed alongside the “iPhone 7” panel for comparison.
Judging from previous rumor, the iPhone 7 could feature a Home button that, using both Force Touch and haptic feedback, would simulate a click when firmly pressed. The button could, therefore, be completely flush with the rest of the smartphone’s front.
All of this, along with the widely expected jettisoning of the traditional headphone jack, could take Apple further towards – as has also been rumored – a completely waterproof iPhone. It remains unclear, however, whether Apple will quite get there for this fall’s iPhones in particular.