“Yesterday we reported on an anonymous tip we received claiming the iPhone 7 will feature a Home button that uses haptic feedback to simulate a click,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “The source claimed that it would use the same approach as Force Touch. Now, analysts from Cowen and Company are corborrating that report.”
“The analysts report that the iPhone 7 will feature a ”Force Touch Home button’ that sits flush with the rest of the phone,” Miller reports. “In addition to offering a more clean design, a Home button that doesn’t actually move will mean that there’s one less physical part that could fail.”
Miller reports, “The Home button has always been a point of pain for iPhone users and Apple Geniuses alike, and this could be Apple’s way of looking to reduce Genius Bar visits.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s amazing the mechanical Home Button lasted this long.
Apple ditched the iPod’s mechanical scroll wheel after the first generation.
SEE ALSO:
Next-gen MacBook Pro could feature Touch ID power button – June 28, 2016
Leaked iPhone 7 photo shows new flush, touch-sensitive Home/Touch ID button – June 15, 2016
Well, you can’t say there are no more moving parts in the Home button: the haptic feedback is a motor that moves (not the same way as a button, but it’s still a moving part that could fail)…
I agree MDN. I’m surprised it wasn’t done with the last generation, or the iPhone 6 when they placed it on the MacBook’s trackpad. On the other hand I’d rather wait for something that works before its deployed.
As with the iPhone 6, it does indeed sound like there will be little change in the overall shape of the iPhone 7 – antenna bands moved to the ends, perhaps a redesigned camera, added speaker, and elimination of the mechanical home button and headphone jack. Possibly a newer processor, perhaps a bump of base RAM to 32 GB. Darker space gray model. Given the hardware restrictions expected for iOS 10, there may be some legacy iPhone 4 and 4s owners that may finally get new phones. But knowing that there’s a complete redesign expected in 2017, is this enough to get iPhone 6 and 6s owners to upgrade this year?
Or should we all wait for the 8?
Yes, the new iPhone will be even faster and will look better due to less of thick plastic inlets on the back, but it is not that major. If you have an iPhone 6/s, then it would make sense to upgrade only if you actively use your smartphone for photography, because this is a field where breakthrough is expected.