“It’s silly season in “iPhone 8” rumor reporting, with the latest supposed “leaked schematics” claiming the handset will move the home button and Touch ID fingerprint sensor to the back of the device, and also feature a chassis considerably thicker than even the iPhone SE,” Neil Hughes writes for AppleInsider.
“Early Thursday morning, AppleInsider was tipped to a new post on Slashleaks showing off what was claimed to be ‘iPhone 8 schematics,'” Hughes writes. “The images purport to show a next-generation iPhone design with a home button, presumably with Touch ID, on the back of the device, as well as a vertical camera array.”
While “it is theoretically possible that the technical limitations of putting Touch ID into the ‘iPhone 8’ display could, actually, force Apple to move the fingerprint sensor to the back of this year’s flagship handset,” Hughes writes. “But doing so would be a huge blow to the ease of use and intuitiveness of the current home button Touch ID design. And that seems out of whack with Apple’s philosophy.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Exactly.
As can be seen by any rational (read: unpaid) review of Samsung’s Galaxy S8, fingerprint readers on the rear are inferior for many reasons (basic ergonomics, smudging of camera lens, etc.) to Apple’s traditional placement on the front of the iPhone.
Bogus – The thicker chassis is a dead giveaway. Apple under Ive worships the goddess of thinness
For all we know, the user’s cries of bigger battery finally paid off. 😛
Exactly..aint no way apple’s putting the TouchID on the back. No one would be able to use a case without some weird finger hole in the back.
I would agree though under the present regime I wouldn’t be totally surprised if the phones were constructed from coconut husks. Can just see Cook wowing us with just how ethical it all is in that nutty professor style of his.
Why do I bother to even glance at the inevitable nasty not-nearly-clever juvenile comments? Ugly world. But, yes, most tech reporting and analysis now has gone completely downhill. We used to have quite a few insightful writers working in the field. Dead or spread too thin…
I’m just glad no f’ing buttons or sensors will be on the back A-la Samsung….I’m hoping whatever configuration is used it will not even come close to looking samsungish…Yuck!
Too late, if the other Apple rumors of the front glass edges being curved to the edges like a convex water minuscus ala Galaxy S3.
Since when isn’t it rumor silly season? 💤💤
I think putting the fingerprint sensor on the back is a very good idea. It’s a much better idea than the design fart of designing it so you can’t turn the screen on and off without muting the ringer.
Last night, another guy and I were fumbling with our phones at a social event. His phone was an Android phone. I mistook it for an iPhone, but it turned out to be an Android phone. He showed me the fingerprint sensor on the back. He can unlock the phone without changing the way he holds it. It does look a little more convenient that way, and you’d probably be less likely to drop it when you are holding it one hand. I complimented him on the design of his phone—to make him feel good. (Most people aspire to Apple and settle for Android.)