“According to a new investor note from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 will adopt a new ‘function area’ at the bottom the display,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “This feature is possible due to the near bezel-less design of the iPhone 8 and subsequent bump in screen size to 5.8-inch.”
“The function area is said to be located in the same area as the current Home button and will thus replace Touch ID,” Miller reports. “Apple plans to make up for the lack of Touch ID with new biometric technologies that will be able to securely offer similar functionalities as Touch ID. While Kuo doesn’t dive into specifics, features such as facial recognition have been rumored.”
“With the new function area housing virtual buttons and other actions, Kuo says that the usable display real estate will be around 5.15-inches,” Miller reports. “It’s unclear what exact will be housed in the ‘function area,’ but it is likely that it will be some sort of virtual buttons and quick actions, perhaps similar to the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone with Touch Bar!
Of course, we’ll believe it when we see it, but imagine the possibilities, some of which can be seen here:
I’m guessing magic bar type interface.
Does this also mean that the only iPhone with OLED is going to be the 5.8″ version? If so, that blows massive chunks.
Touch ID – we barely knew ye!
There’s no way there will be a screen on both sides because of the inability to protect the two screens sensibly.
I didn’t see it as a double sided phone display. I saw it as a metaphor. What you see is a time laps, ignoring the back of the phone. I may be mistaken. If so, I would agree with you. But there are hints the back will be glass too.
I agree with the double sided glass like they have done before…maybe you’re right that it was just time lapsed for convenience sake.
Come on man. It was obvious that was just a way to segue between different examples – all on the front of the device.
How do people like you cross the street? You could even tell by looking at the hardware buttons.
That concept video didn’t show edge to edge, but I would buy that.
I am a bit worried if the new iPhone lacked Touch ID. I mean can you really perform facial recognition while checking out, using Apple Pay? You will need to bring the phone to the terminal and it makes more sense to me that Touch ID is the authenticator. You never let go of your phone so the finger is the best option.
Another consideration. In recognition, you could be compelled to press your finger to unlock your phone, there might be another way to approach this to survive the 5th Amendment test.
ADDING facial recognition seems plausible *but* I’m pretty sure Apple is not gonna just dump TouchID cold like that–it is to integral to the fledgling Apple Pay ecosystem.
Dumping TouchID? If so, I see major contention resulting. That’s been an Apple coup.
I’m also forced to point out that a ‘function area’ on a smartphone’s interface is NOT an original idea, hello Samsung Edge, sad to say.
This looks useful when in portrait orientation but it’s hard to see how it might be so good in landscape mode. Until such time as Apple demonstrates a solution that works equally well in both orientations I’ll remain skeptical.
I welcome the “function area”… I have years wishing the iPhone to have this old feature present in Android and Windows Phones!