iPhone 7 Leak Reveals 'All New' Home Button

According to numerous sources the iPhone 7 is both extremely controversial yet highly disappointing. But Apple AAPL +0.42% may have one clever trick still up its sleeve…

Following leaks in April, MobiPicker has published photos of what it claims is a new iPhone 7 home button and it is the biggest redesign since Touch ID. In short: it’s no longer a button.

Instead Apple has turned it into a touch sensitive surface. As MobiPicker explains:

“Our source tells us that this button is perfectly in level with the rest of the bezel and cannot be pressed in.While learning new combinations could prove problematic, there are multiple reasons it makes sense for Apple to make this change:

1. Durability

Eliminating a moving part always appeals to manufacturers because it is one less point of failure and iPhone home buttons do fail – so much so in fact Apple actually has a backup software alternative: AssistiveTouch.   The button is touch-sensitive and users will have to perform tapping actions for various functions, like tap and hold for Siri, double tap to see the running apps, etc.”

In addition to this, a fixed home button would help with waterproofing – something Apple is hotly tipped to add to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

2. Patents Already In Place

In March Apple received a patent for a “bulk amorphous alloy pressure sensor”. Basically this is a touch sensitive surface and even Apple’s submitted sketches (one below) show it being used like a home button.

Apple’s new “bulk amorphous alloy pressure sensor” patent looks familiar. Image credit: Apple

3. The Changeover Has Already Started

Perhaps most crucially, however, is Apple has already begun this transition. Last year it relaunched the ‘MacBook’ and a key change was its touchpad was fixed – it no longer had a button press. Instead Apple made it a touch sensitive surface which uses haptic feedback to give the impression of movement.

One More Thing…

And let’s be frank, rivals have already done this.

The HTC HTCCY +% 10, OnePlus Three and other high profile Android handsets have touch sensitive surfaces instead of a traditional home button and the response to them has been largely favourable.

But one big question remains: Is it a small minded move?

I ask this because in May LG announced technology which allows a smartphone display to be used as a fingerprint sensor therefore eliminating the need for a separate button altogether. LG states this technology will be ready for commercial products “within the year”.

LG’s new fingerprint recognition technology reads fingerprints simply touched on the display. Image credit: LG

So why would Apple unsettle customers with a redesigned home button when it could drop it entirely in the very near future?

As such I’m on the fence with this one. I get why Apple would do it and there are a lot of reasons it makes sense, but personally I’d rather see Apple wait for LG’s technology and scrap the home button (and consequently the iPhone and iPad large bezels) in a single move.

For me this would make Apple’s already exciting 2017 dual curve iPhone look even better…