Apple may differentiate 'iPhone 5S' fingerprint scanning home button with silver ring [u]

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's next flagship iPhone may distinguish its anticipated key feature ? a built-in fingerprint scanner ? from other iPhones with an aesthetic tweak, by placing a subtle silver ring around the home button [updated with new pics].

Ring


Rumors of a silver ring around the iPhone home button were first floated last month by Clayton Morris of Fox News. Appearing on the Internet show This Week in Tech, Morris told host Leo Laporte that he was "unequivocally" sure that Apple's next-generation iPhone will feature a fingerprint sensor beneath the home button.

Laporte then asked Morris whether the new home button will be an "innie" concave button as Apple has historically designed them, or an "outie" convex button to accommodate an embedded scanner, as was previously claimed.

"From what I've understood it's an 'innie,' and it's going to have a silver ring around it," Morris said.



That rumor gained attention again this week, after Apple sent out invitations for its media event scheduled for next Tuesday, at which Apple is expected to introduce both an "iPhone 5S" flagship device, and a more affordable "iPhone 5C." The image features a number of circles in a variety of colors against a white background, and includes the tagline, "this should brighten everyone's day."

But among the colorful circles are a few silver rings with plain white interiors. Some have suggested this could be a subtle hint by Apple about the look of the so-called "iPhone 5S."

invitation
pair of images surfaced claiming to show the final packaging for the "iPhone 5S." While the blurry photos are suspicious for a number of reasons, including the lack of a background wallpaper in the product image, they do show what appears to be a silver ring around the home button.

AppleInsider has no reason to believe these images are in fact legitimate. But since they do support the theory of a silver-ringed iPhone home button, they are included in this story.

Update: iPhone in Canada has sent along higher quality pictures, which are now included below:

Box


Box


As for what might prompt Apple to slightly alter the appearance of its now-iconic home button that's looked the same on every iPhone to date, a slight silver ring around the button may be a way for the company to differentiate devices that feature a fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button. This could be especially important for the "iPhone 5S," which is expected to have largely the same design and appearance as the current iPhone 5.

In this manner, including a silver ring around the home button could enable users to quickly identify whether a device they are holding includes fingerprint sensing capabilities. Presumably that same functionality will come to future iOS devices with home buttons, such as the iPad and potentially even a future iPod touch.

To date, no leaked components have indicated that the home button will see any significant aesthetic changes. Just this week, though, an internal component claimed to be for the home button on Apple's next iPhone appeared to show a potential fingerprint sensor that could be embedded in the button.

Home
A component claimed to be Apple's "iPhone 5S" fingerprint scanner. Picture via Sonny Dickson.


Evidence of the rumored feature was also discovered in a beta of iOS 7. A reference to a "Biometric Kit" and another describing an image of a person placing their thumb over the home button for "recognition" were found hidden within the pre-release software.

The rumored feature is believed to be powered by Apple's $356 million acquisition of AuthenTec last summer. The firm described that its "semiconductor-based sensors are based on both capacitive and radio frequency (RF) technology that detects an image of the fingerprint ridge and valley pattern beneath the surface of the skin, thus capturing sharp and clear fingerprint patterns from the live layer."

All will be revealed next Tuesday, when Apple's keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. AppleInsider will have full, live coverage of the event.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 69
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    Silver AND gold?
    How gauche.
  • Reply 2 of 69

    Do you think the 5C get this too?

  • Reply 3 of 69
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    gqb wrote: »
    Silver AND gold?
    How gauche.
    You mean silver and white? I'm not aware of any iPhone where the front of the phone is/will be gold.
  • Reply 4 of 69
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GadgetCanadaV2 View Post

     

    Do you think the 5C get this too?


     

    Why would the 5C(heap) model get a high end feature like that?

  • Reply 5 of 69
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Do you think the 5C get this too?
    No, my guess is this goes with fingerprint tech and I can't see that coming to the 5C.
  • Reply 6 of 69
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GadgetCanadaV2 View Post

     

    Do you think the 5C get this too?


     

    Why would they? There should be enough reason to buy the premium over the cheap one aside from it's shell, bumped specs and a better camera. Although not this year at least, it might became standard to all in the next few years.

  • Reply 7 of 69

    A black background on the Springboard when that hasn't been the case by default (or even a possibility) since iPhone OS 3, as well as hasn't shown up on a box since the same time, and when iOS 7 SPECIFICALLY HAS A FEATURE THAT HIGHLIGHTS ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS?

     

    How stupid do you have to be to believe those images?!

  • Reply 8 of 69
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by makingdots View Post

     

     

    Why would they? There should be enough reason to buy the premium over the cheap one aside from it's shell, bumped specs and a better camera. Although not this year at least, it might became standard to all in the next few years.


     

    Moreover, fingerprint sensors may be embedded in the display leading to a higher cost.

     

    I think the 5C may not support fingerprint sensor nor SIRI. 

  • Reply 9 of 69
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GQB View Post



    Silver AND gold?

    How gauche.

     

    Does anyone else hear Burl Ives?  

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-XDQN6ipE

  • Reply 10 of 69
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    No, my guess is this goes with fingerprint tech and I can't see that coming to the 5C.

     

    Probably next year though.  (iPhone 6c)

  • Reply 11 of 69
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    But does the iPhone 5S do something new besides new font.
    The physical design of the phone itself is pretty old-basically an iPhone 4 of almost 4 years ago.
  • Reply 12 of 69
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GQB View Post



    Silver AND gold?

    How gauche.

     

    Many people are going to be underwhelmed next week on the 10th, because expectations always run so high, given the track record of such innovation excellence. I hardly think Apple would put out anything gauche, but i like that word - it would be e more fitting replacement for 'gear' for new devices coming from other companies.

  • Reply 13 of 69
    Anyone else see the grey needle in the Safari icon on the packaging?
  • Reply 14 of 69
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Moreover, fingerprint sensors may be embedded in the display leading to a higher cost.

    I think the 5C may not support fingerprint sensor nor SIRI. 
    Why would 5C not have Siri when the 4S does?
  • Reply 15 of 69
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    A black background on the Springboard when that hasn't been the case by default (or even a possibility) since iPhone OS 3, as well as hasn't shown up on a box since the same time, and when iOS 7 SPECIFICALLY HAS A FEATURE THAT HIGHLIGHTS ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS?

     

    How stupid do you have to be to believe those images?!


     

    Not that I'm defending their reality, but it could makes sense in light of the plain blue, pink, green etc. backgrounds on the iPhone 5c's.  If the iPhone 5s is being marketed similarly, then the backgrounds on the box art would be black, white, champagne and grey accordingly. 

     

    I'm more appalled at the aesthetics of having a silver ring on the black face of the phone in the first place.  It would look at home on the white models, but the slate black ones will look kind of cheap with the silver ring.  

  • Reply 16 of 69
    A black background on the Springboard when that hasn't been the case by default (or even a possibility) since iPhone OS 3, as well as hasn't shown up on a box since the same time, and when iOS 7 SPECIFICALLY HAS A FEATURE THAT HIGHLIGHTS ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS?

    How stupid do you have to be to believe those images?!

    It didn't strike me as odd success the packaging of the C also appears to have plain color backgrounds. Also I thought that the animation was restricted to the lock screen?
  • Reply 17 of 69
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    A black background on the Springboard when that hasn't been the case by default (or even a possibility) since iPhone OS 3, as well as hasn't shown up on a box since the same time, and when iOS 7 SPECIFICALLY HAS A FEATURE THAT HIGHLIGHTS ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS?

     

    How stupid do you have to be to believe those images?!


     

    Not saying I believe these pics are legit (I have no idea either way) but stop being so obnoxiously confident about everything. There's a variety of reasons Apple could choose to avoid including a wallpaper on the packaging, including the fact that with iOS7 the typography is more difficult to distinguish with a wallpaper, and the fact that they want to highlight the new icons and not have anything else creating clutter. Animated wallpapers are an irrelevant argument, because there's no way they can show that on packaging anyhow. History should teach you to have an open mind. It's not impossible that these might be legit. 

  • Reply 18 of 69
    Originally Posted by apollo1111 View Post

    Anyone else see the grey needle in the Safari icon on the packaging?

     

    And? That's how it is in all versions of Safari.

     

    Originally Posted by WonkoTheSane View Post

    Also I thought that the animation was restricted to the lock screen?

     

    Home Screens, too.

  • Reply 19 of 69
    That could be the actual box. Even with the black background. All of the 5C's are predicted to have packaging that matches the background to the color of the device. The leaked packaging images above could show a black/slate iPhone 5S with a matching black background.

    Personally, i think an image would have been better especially considering the parallax background feature, but at least it explains the packaging.
  • Reply 20 of 69
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    I'm more appalled at the aesthetics of having a silver ring on the black face of the phone in the first place.  It would look at home on the white models, but the slate black ones will look kind of cheap with the silver ring.  



    Couldn't agree more. Having an ugly static grey ring kills the elegant look.



    A better design would've been inspired by the elegant and nicely executed sleep indicator LED in MacBooks.

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