The first radical design of the new iPhone 8 has been finally let out of the bag.
Developers have been trawling through the firmware code for
the HomePod, Apple's upcoming smart speaker, after Apple released it on Friday. And they say it offers
tantalising clues about what will be in the next iPhone — including
face-unlocking technology and the shape of the screen.
The "iPhone 8" (or iPhone Edition, or iPhone X, or
iPhone Pro, depending on whom you ask) will be the 10th-anniversary edition of
Apple's smartphone and is eagerly anticipated. Apple is expected to launch an
incrementally improved new device, the 7S, in the fall of 2017 — but alongside
it will likely be the 8, with a redesign, significant new features, and a
higher price.
Reports and rumours have been swirling for months now about
the features of the iPhone 8 — including an almost edge-to-edge screen with no
home button, wireless charging, an improved camera, and the ability to unlock
it with your face via infrared sensors.
Steve Troughton-Smith, a developer, says he has found code
referencing that last one in HomePod's firmware.
In early July, Bloomberg wrote of the 3D face-scanning tech: "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."
It's not clear whether this face-unlock technology would be
intended to replace Touch ID, or sit alongside it as an alternate method for
unlocking your phone.
Another developer, Guilherme Rambo, wrote
on Twitter that he had also found the face-unlock code, as well as
something else interesting: an icon apparently depicting the front of the
iPhone 8. The image seems to confirm earlier reports that its screen will
stretch almost to the edges of the device.
However, don't expect Apple to confirm or deny any of this.
The famously secretive company almost never talks about upcoming products
before they're officially announced.
The iPhone 8 is expected to be formally unveiled in
September at Apple's big annual event, alongside the 7S and 7S Plus. But there
has been speculation it may not hit shop shelvesuntil later in the year if Apple is
battling to solve technical challenges.
(source yahoo, edited by Increase Chisom)
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