The button will be used to confirm iPhone payments

Sep 10, 2017 21:47 GMT  ·  By

As you probably heard by now, the Home button will be gone on the iPhone X, and together with it, Touch ID is also biting the dust, with Apple going instead for facial recognition to secure the device.

This means that all the capabilities provided by the fingerprint sensor are replaced with face scanning, and while Apple is confident that this would work correctly, the company has implemented a series of tweaks to make sure this indeed happens.

One of them concerns the power button, which on the iPhone X will be longer than before. And it’s being extended for a good reason: the button will be used to allow payments.

It turns out that while Face ID will indeed be the primary feature that will authorize payments, users will be required to double-click the power button to confirm them. This is pretty much a way for Apple to make sure that no unauthorized payments will be made, as physical access to the device by the owner is required to confirm them.

Face ID on the iPad Pro

Face ID is apparently a key part of Apple’s vision, so the facial recognition system will also make it to the iPad at some point. Right now, there is no information on the future versions of the tablet, which could also replace Touch ID completely in the favor of Face ID, but the next models will almost certainly integrate the technology for a seamless transition between devices.

The iPhone X will officially see daylight on Tuesday, but people with knowledge of the matter said a delay is very likely, meaning that sales might be pushed back to October. This happens because of some production issues affecting displays.

The device could cost approximately $1,000, with some analysts predicting that the top model could reach $1,200 when equipped with 512GB storage space.