A pair of sketchy images posted Friday by the Chinese-language blog C Technology prompted quite a stir among technology denizens. If you haven’t seen them already, the purported photographs show an odd-looking iPhone 5S packaging (likely Photoshop’d) sporting device graphics on the box’s front. The most curious aspect of it: a redesigned Home button, without the square in the middle and with a silver ring around it.
The photos led armchair analysts to postulate that the ring is actually a fingerprint sensor – nevermind that virtually every single rumor points to the sensor being actually built underneath the Home button. Anyway, here’s 3D artist Martin Hajek’s awesome Lord of the Rings mockup which draws from the supposedly “leaked” packaging…
For starters, here are the dubious iPhone 5S packaging shots – notice the silver ring around the Home button.
And here’s Hajek’s render.
Awesome, no?
Don’t you notice anything unusual about the above shot and the closeup top of post?
Yup, Hajek is calling for an LED-illuminated ring.
It’s pure speculation, but we’re posting it here for academic purposes. Surely the LEDs would have leaked by now – unless Tim Cook meant business when he threatened doubling down on secrecy.
Even though fingerprint scanning is widely accepted to become the pivotal iPhone 5S feature, we’ve seen little to no leaks to prove beyond doubt that Apple has integrated an AuthenTec-made sensor right into the Home button.
Also notice how Hajek’s vision calls for a Home button without the iconic square icon in the middle – again, contrasting the leaked Home button components we’ve seen so far.
The assumed iPhone 5S Home button, without the rumored biometric fingerprint scanner. Photo courtesy of Sonny Dickson.
“Will it be flush with the front glass, will it be metal or also glow?”, Hajek asks himself.
The mystery will be solved in less than 48 hours.
Others have dreamed up their own version of the silver ring, like Mohammed Madinah (below).
Do check out our extensive roundup of what we think we know about both the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.