As the September 10 iPhone event draws nearer, pundits have begun to cast their final predictions for what features Apple’s next smartphone will possess. A faster processor seems like a given, as do a better camera and new gold colorway, but what else?
A lot of folks also think that the iPhone 5S will have a fingerprint scanner built into its Home button. It’s been reported by analysts on several occasions, and evidence of it surfaced in iOS 7, but we have yet to see any real concrete proof. Until now?
French blog Nowhereelse.fr points to a new Home button flex cable that has recently surfaced online that may finally offer tangible evidence of the long-rumored fingerprint scanner. It’s more complex than that of the iPhone 5, with many new components.
And it’s believed that these new components may be related to fingerprint sensor functionality. Add to this the fact that the part has an identifier (821-2092-01) in line with past Apple components, and appears to have been made in mid-July, and things get interesting.
So why would you want a fingerprint scanner in your Home button? Everything we’ve heard thus far makes it sound like it will be used, at first at least, to unlock your device. But the possibilities are endless: password replacement, mobile payments—you name it.
Of course, we won’t really know for sure what Apple has in mind for the feature until it officially announces the iPhone 5S next week. The phone is expected to launch alongside a less expensive handset, the iPhone 5C, in several countries on September 20.