Numerous sources have come forward to claim that this year’s iPhones will feature a Home button that sits flush with the phone’s body and is activated using Force Touch technology.
Just the other day, 9to5Mac reported that one of its own sources – “an anonymous source with absolutely no track record”, though with an IP address near Apple’s headquarters – claimed that the iPhone 7’s Home button would use haptic feedback to simulate a click.
This is the same kind of feedback utilized by Apple’s pressure-sensitive Force Touch – and now, Business Insider reports the belief of Cowen and Company analysts, who have cited “field checks”, that the next iPhone will indeed have a “Force Touch home button”.
A software-based Home button could enhance the handset in various ways. It could, for example, remove a common hardware failure point of current iPhones, and also further the possibility of a completely waterproof design, a feature rumored back in December.
It’s understandable that mention of a Force Touch Home button would not arise prominently in rumors until now, given that it would not strictly be visible in design schematics previously leaked ahead of the iPhone 7’s apparent recent entry into mass production.
