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TechThe Mobile Executive

Apple’s iPhone 7 Could Come With a Much Different Home Button

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 8, 2016, 11:23 AM ET

The days of the standalone Touch ID home button might be gone in Apple’s next iPhone.

Apple (AAPL) is planning to build a new home button into the next iPhone, believed to be known as the iPhone 7. It is expected to be fully pressure-sensitive and respond to user inputs with a vibration, Bloomberg is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the company’s plans. The feature would replace the physical button currently used in Apple’s iPhones, which require users to press down or place their fingers on to activate.

The vibration is a technology called haptic feedback. Rather than bundling a physical button in the next iPhone, the new home “button” would sit flush with the iPhone 7’s screen, according to Bloomberg. The haptic feedback would alert the user that he or she is pressing the button and performing a function. For instance, it could be used to unlock the device with help from Touch ID or simply go back to the home screen from within the operating system.

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The Bloomberg report comes just days after Japanese Apple-tracking site Macotakara said that it, too, was hearing from sources that Apple would change the Touch ID button in its new iPhone. It was unclear at that time if the home button would be baked directly into the glass or sit flush with the display and feature a ring around it so users knew where to touch. The Bloomberg report also sheds little light Apple’s exact design plans for the button.

But that’s just one of a few changes Apple is expected to make to the iPhone 7. Confirming earlier reports, videos, and photos, Bloomberg’s sources say that the iPhone 7 will come with small design tweaks, a dual-lens camera system to enhance its picture-taking abilities, and will ditch the headphone jack that has accompanied all previous iPhone launches.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 at a special press event sometime early next month. While Bloomberg’s sources didn’t say exactly when the device might launch, speculation abounds the smartphone will hit store shelves on September 16 with preorders to start a week prior.

For more about Apple’s iPhone, watch:

Apple declined to comment on the report.

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By Don Reisinger
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