14 DAY TRIAL // A new leak purports to demonstrate how Apple will make it possible to incorporate a fingerprint sensor in its next-generation iPhone scheduled to debut this fall.
Posted by Czech blog letemsvetemapplem.eu, the two photos visible to the left aim to show the Home button and the front panel (digitizer) of the iPhone 5S.
The glass panel looks pretty much identical to the one found on the current-selling iPhone 5S, which lends credence to rumors that Apple will make no radical redesign with this year’s iPhone refresh.
The Home button, however, is a different story altogether. It bears the Apple logo on it, something that is as tantalizing as it is unlikely to materialize.
“Photography comes from a very well informed source, and we are convinced of their authenticity,” says the Czech blog, according to a rough machine translation.
In other words, going by this leak, the iPhone 5S will be the first iPhone since 2007 to bear Apple’s iconic logo on the front of the device, right smack in the middle of its Home button.
The reason why it’s there is not for marketing purposes, according to the Czech blog, but rather to accommodate the fingerprint sensor rumored to be making its way into the iPhone 5S.
Apple has been widely rumored to plan the introduction of a new authentication technology in its future smartphones, one that uses biometrics.
The fingerprint sensor would only make sense on the Home button, or in the same area, even if the company decides to eliminate the physical button altogether.
The leak is interesting, but it doesn’t seem too plausible. At least not the Apple-branded Home button, which would be at odds with the Cupertino giant’s marketing M.O.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5S at a special event scheduled for fall 2013.
