14 DAY TRIAL // As Apple is gearing up to unveil its new iPhones on September 10, a new component leak is making the rounds this week showing what could actually be the iPhone 5S Home button with its rumored fingerprint sensor.
A mysterious square-shaped part placed on the Home button’s flex cable marks a clear difference between the buttons manufactured earlier this year and the ones being made this month.
A photo shared by Nowhereelse.fr in France shows a clear discrepancy between the two parts, one allegedly being for earlier prototypes of the iPhone 5S.
One explanation for the big difference – namely the square-ish bulk in the newer flex cable model – could be that Apple has done everything in its power to keep the rumored fingerprint technology under tight wraps.
However, with the iPhone 5S unveiling less than a week away, the leaks are becoming unstoppable.
The fingerprint sensor in question is said to be the result of Apple’s AuthenTec acquisition earlier this year, which granted the Cupertino giant access to biometric technology that makes it possible to unlock a phone simply by reading the user’s thumb print.
New hardware is needed to power this function – basically a sensor behind the iPhone’s big Home button – and the hardware depicted above seems to be it.
In addition to this enhancement, the iPhone 5S is said to boast a faster processor (likely dubbed A7), as well as better cameras.
A new “champagne” model is said to be on the table for this year, and the highest storage capacity is said to have been upped to 128GB.
Alongside the iPhone 5S, Apple will release a lower-cost “iPhone 5C” made of plastic, that offers more color options and specs comparable to those of the iPhone 5.
The iPhone 5C will reportedly mark the discontinuation of the current-generation iPhone 5.
