Apple reportedly ditches the home button for gesture controls

According to a new report, the iPhone 8 will ditch the home button and swap it for gesture controls. The smartphone’s release date announcement takes place on September 12 at the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California.

Image courtesy of Oscar Luna Martinez.

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg saw image leaks of the upcoming iPhone, revealing that it will feature some of the biggest changes we’ve seen in the iPhone since it debuted 10 years ago. There have been a number of iPhone designs in testing, including one that has a nearly all-screen front and eliminates the home button either physically or digitally.

Rather than pressing the home button to perform functions such as viewing app screens or commanding Siri, users will use gestures to move through the iPhone. One design features a thin software bar along the bottom of the screen that users drag up to unlock the device or use other swipes to close apps or open the multitasking function.

In addition to getting rid of the home button, Gurman said that the iPhone 8’s OLED screen will be longer and wider than the iPhone 7 Plus, even though the device is expected to be similar in size to the iPhone 7. The new device will also feature rounded corners but will not be precisely curved like the Samsung Galaxy S8.

A metal band with antennas is expected to run around the edge of the iPhone 8, and its bezels will be present around the entire screen. Thus, the thick black strips where the earpiece and home button are on the current-gen iPhones will no longer be present.

Unlike any of the previous iPhones, the 8 will feature a shelf along the top where the front camera, sensors, earpiece, and antenna will be placed. Prior rumors have pointed to the iPhone 8 having facial-recognition technology for stronger security, and the latest report notes that the Face ID sensors will be on the display’s top shelf.

More rumors include a dock on the bottom of the iPhone 8, a longer power button located on the side of the device, and an app layout similar to today’s iPhones with six rows and 24 icons on a page.

Aside from the iPhone 8 reveal, Apple is slated to launch the iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus, Apple Watch 3, and a 4K Apple TV, as well as the public release date of the iOS 11.

Source: TechRadar