iPhone 8 Reportedly Won't Have a Home Button, Wider Frame

A new report says the iPhone 8 will be the first without a physical home button.

A shot of some iPhone 6's.
Getty

Image via Getty/NurPhoto

A shot of some iPhone 6's.

In what is probably an adjustment that will take some of you awhile to get used to, Apple is reportedly scrapping the physical home button for the new iPhone 8, which is set to be released later this year. The report has come from Digitimes which itself got the news from a report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News, which itself was relying upon sources from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. We will add that Economic Daily News has a good rep. So believe it if you want.

Instead it appears likely that the "home button" will exist as software on the screen.

In addition to scrapping (or modernizing?) the home button, the report also states that the Touch ID will not be in the back, as previous rumors suggested, but rather that it too will be embedded on the screen. Don't bother pointing out the irony of rumors correcting past rumors.

The phone will also have "invisible infrared image sensors" which will simultaneously help boost the high-pixel camera's functionality, as well as enable AR applications. Finally the screen ratio will actually be 18.5:9, and not the previously reported 16:9. To somebody out there that's a big deal. 

Though if all you care about is calling, texting, and surfing the internet, you're more than free to roll your eyes at all of this.

 

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