“Apple’s next flagship iPhone will have a bigger display-to-body ratio than any other iPhone before it, rumors indicate, as Apple is preparing for a radical design change,” Chris Smith reports for BGR. “The iconic home button of the iPhone is going away. Or better said, the physical button is going away, but the button’s features will remain. By eliminating the home button, Apple can extend the display without increasing the size of the iPhone.”
“A new patent application titled Acoustic Imaging System Architecture found by AppleInsider reveals that Apple is contemplating using acoustics to replace two distinct sensors that prevent it from offering an all-screen iPhone right now, with special emphasis on the fingerprint sensor,” Smith reports. “The patent application indicates that Apple might ditch Touch ID as we know it, but it’ll do so without sacrificing the fingerprint-reading capability of the iPhone.”
“Instead, Apple might use an array of transducers placed around the display that can generate acoustic waves and monitor the way users interact with the screen. The sensors would not hinder the interaction with the screen, as they can be placed in areas that you wouldn’t normally touch,” Smith reports. “The system would be able to detect a foreign object, like a finger, and create a unique signature for the wave reflections caused by the ridges on a finger pad that make up the fingerprint.”
Much more, including Apple;s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A significantly larger display in a device that’s similar in size to an iPhone 7 Plus is going to sell out in record time. Here’s hoping Apple can, for once, make enough of them!
SEE ALSO:
Ming-Chi Kuo: 5.8-inch iPhone 8 to offer 5.15-inch usable screen space with new ‘function area’ – February 16, 2017
MDN. Apple always makes enough iPhones for all. They just spread out sales over a set period of time so they don’t have 5 million left over sitting in some warehouse like Samsung. LOL
Plus many like me wait to buy one to enjoy delayed gratification 🙂
So, only the flagship gets the full display? The other iPhones get the same boring-ass design they have been using forever?As with all the other (non) decisions, it’s getting really hard to like these people.
So, you would agree that a Toyota should have all of the same features as a Lexus?
So, only the flagship gets the full display? The other iPhones will get the same boring-ass design they have been using forever? Combined with all the other (non) decisions, it is really getting hard to like these people.
The gambler in me would bet that all the phones will be bezel free, but the flagship with have the AMOLED screen with the “Touch Bar” area. We shall see.
Renee Richie (iMore) had a good take on this idea of limited Flagship iPhone getting special treatment. And that is that there is a supply constraint on many of the components being planned for this iPhone X (if there truly is such a thing). Apple sold approximately 210 Million iPhones last year. Component limitations may mean that they can only make, say, 10-20 million (arbitrary number here) of these Flagship iPhones. That’s why there will still be basic iPhone 8 versions that will be upgrades to the 7. The word is that Apple simply cannot supply enough of the whiz bang iPhones to meet the normal iPhone demand.
All iPhones need full bezel displays, AMOLED, and 256GB Storage. Period.
Not gonna happen. Period.
“These acoustic sensors could also be trained to recognize other body parts”—-ooookay. That feature could get interesting very quickly
I’m not sure if electronic device can really be operated without any physical buttons. I’m pretty sure that’s why iOS devices have always had two buttons – a home button and a sleep-wake button. I guess you could go down to just one button, but that’s as far as you can go. Without physical buttons, there’s no way to truly turn off the phone without totally discharging the battery.