The iPhone 7 Could Ditch the Physical Home Button

[RaduTyrsina]

According to Piper Jaffray’s analyst Gene Munster, it seems that the next-year iPhone 7 may feature a home-buttonless design. He says that there’s about a 50 percent chance for Apple to ditch the home button on the iPhone 7. Munster added the following:

“As many have speculated, the addition of 3D Touch may provide Apple with a way to eliminate the home button on the phone and use the additional space to make the screen bigger or make the device smaller. One barrier to this could be Touch ID, which is integrated into the home button currently. Apple would need to move the Touch ID reader to potentially the side of the phone to remove the home button.”

The analyst says that by perfecting the "3D Touch" pressure-sensing system, the company could integrate the home button right on the display. However, a recent patent filing revealed Apple wants to put Touch ID behind the display, rather than on the side, as Munster suggests.

An iPhone without a physical home button would also mean Apple would also have to relocate the fingerprint scanner. According to Munster, Apple could choose to place the fingerprint scanner on the side of the iPhone 7.

Source: Barrons