Ever since there’s been an iPhone, there’s been a home button. But, apparently, no longer. Or, at least, not a physical one.
Digitimes is reporting that Apple has licked the rumored problems with the fingerprint sensor, and it doesn’t involve putting it on the back. Instead, they’ve embedded it in the screen, so now you can scan your finger and continue not using Apple Pay. There will probably be a “home” button of sorts, but it’ll be on the screen, and exist as software, as opposed to a clickable button.
It’s an interesting, if perhaps inevitable step, as Apple wants a smooth sheet of glass, instead of all those gross buttons and ports. But it does raise the question of what happens if the screen is damaged or otherwise refuses to work. The Home button being a physical thing was something of a fail-safe to ensure you could still use your phone even if your screen was cracked, so what happens when that’s off the table? The designs we’ve seen do have buttons, of course, so they might fill in, or the Home button may still wind up on the side. For now, though, Apple’s goal of a buttonless, portless phone proceeds apace.
(Via BGR)