Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has leaked some key features of the long-awaited iPhone 8 – including face-unlocking technology and a new shape of the screen.
Apple is expected to launch the new phone in autumn of this year, to mark the tenth-anniversary edition of Apple’s smartphones. In the meantime, developers have been looking through the firmware code for Apple’s upcoming smart speaker, which they say offers clues for the new smartphone.
These developers have said that Apple’s codename for the new face recognition feature is “Pearl ID”. The HomePod firmware also contains lots of the new iOS 11, which will be released later this year.
“I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere,” said developer Steve Troughton-Smith in a tweet last week.
Bloomberg reported on the face-scanning feature earlier this year where they said: “The sensor’s speed and accuracy are focal points of the feature. It can scan a user’s face and unlock the iPhone within a few hundred milliseconds, the person said. It is designed to work even if the device is laying flat on a table, rather than just close up to the face.”
Further investigating found that Apple will ditch the iconic home button and have a screen that fills up the entire face of the device. These rumours suggest Apple is following the steps of Samsung’s (KRX:005930) G8.
Should all this be true, it will be the biggest change to the iPhone devices since the introduction of larger screens in 2014 with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
The iPhone 8 is expected to be in September this year at Apple’s annual event, alongside the 7s/7s Plus.
News other Apple news this week, the tech giant has announced they will be ending production of the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle devices.