Did iPhone 7’s touch-sensitive Home button just leak?

iPhone 7 Home button MobiPicker 002

Many sources are adamant that we’ll have to wait until a tenth anniversary iPhone next year for a bezel-less device with an integrated Touch ID sensor and no Home button. As for the upcoming iPhone 7 revision, the most recent leak from MobiPicker suggests that the iPhone 7 might come outfitted with a touch-sensitive Home button that sits flush with the surrounding bezel, requiring users to perform tapping actions due to the absence of any moving parts.

UPDATE: As our reader Dave pointed out on Twitter, this may actually be an Android device although the image he shared appears to depict a device with a Home button that does have a bezel so it’s inconclusive.

As you can see for yourself, the purported iPhone 7 handset pictured on the leaked photos appears to sport a Home button that’s flush with the face of the handset, without the capacitive silver metal ring around it.

A source who sent in the image told the publication that the Home button is “perfectly in level” with the rest of the bezel and indeed “cannot be pressed in.”

iPhone 7 Home button MobiPicker 001

Instead of pressing the button like on all prior iPhone models, iPhone 7 users will apparently have to perform tapping actions for various functions, like tap and hold for Siri, double tap to see the running apps and so forth.

The Touch ID might be significantly smoother and faster due to this change as well, the site noted. Assuming this leak is genuine, this new Home button design wouldn’t just permit Apple to waterproof the next iPhone more easily, but also make servicing the Home button a lot easier and less pricey.

Other things we could glean from the photo: it looks like the lower and upper part of the bezel are narrower now while the front camera and proximity sensor appear to have been repositioned.

Source: MobiPicker