Rumor: 'iPhone 7' may feature touch-sensitive home button, full water- and dust-proofing

AppleInsider

Apple's next flagship iPhone will not only be waterproof and dustproof, but possibly feature a touch-sensitive home button, new rumor claims.

Using a touch-sensitive button could allow the front of the so-called "iPhone 7" to sit completely flush, I4U News reported on Monday, citing Chinese-language stories from DigiTimes and Storm.mg. The device has allegedly just finished its third test phase.

The back of the device is also expected to be flush, thanks to Apple removing the infamous camera "bump" found on the iPhone 6 and 6s. Past reports have hinted that Apple is planning to eliminate the bump, which has annoyed some people by preventing an iPhone from laying perfectly flat, or simply by breaking up its "clean" design aesthetic.

Reports have differed on whether the next iPhone will be waterproof. The iPhone 6s is already somewhat water-resistant however, and taking the next step would allow Apple to better compete with Samsung, whose flagship Galaxy S7 can be fully submerged in 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

Going waterproof involves closing as many unnecessary gaps in a device as possible. For the iPhone that could be helped if Apple decides to strip out the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, as some rumors have pointed to. Instead, people would have to pump external audio through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Lightning-equipped accessories.

Apple is expected to launch its next-generation iPhone later this year, presumably in September if the company follows normal release patterns.

macplusplus

The removal of 3.5 mm audio jack and the camera bump makes me hopeful about that zoom assembly moving vertically inside the device like a periscope. That would be innovation...

cnocbui

AppleInsider said:

Apple's next flagship iPhone will not only be waterproof and dustproof, but possibly feature a touch-sensitive home button, new rumor claims.



Going waterproof involves closing as many unnecessary gaps in a device as possible. For the iPhone that could be helped if Apple decides to strip out the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, as some rumors have pointed to. Instead, people would have to pump external audio through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Lightning-equipped accessories.

The S7 is waterproof even though it retained the 3.5mm socket, which was made intrinsically waterproof so it doesn't even require a cover. 

ireland

If digitimes is wrong it's business and usual if they are right it's pure luck at best. But doesn't matter anyone because if Apple doesn't deliver what these idiots predict it can always be Apple's fault.

Ushira

cnocbui said:

AppleInsider said:

Apple's next flagship iPhone will not only be waterproof and dustproof, but possibly feature a touch-sensitive home button, new rumor claims.



Going waterproof involves closing as many unnecessary gaps in a device as possible. For the iPhone that could be helped if Apple decides to strip out the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, as some rumors have pointed to. Instead, people would have to pump external audio through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Lightning-equipped accessories.

The S7 is waterproof even though it retained the 3.5mm socket, which was made intrinsically waterproof so it doesn't even require a cover. 

Yes but Apple is obsessed with making their devices thin as paper

suddenly newton

I don't know why the rumor mill has to be so conservative: go wild, if you're going to make promises for Apple to fail to deliver on in September. Then use that to spin the iPhone 7 launch as a "huge disappointment."

isteelers

Ushira said:

cnocbui said:

The S7 is waterproof even though it retained the 3.5mm socket, which was made intrinsically waterproof so it doesn't even require a cover. 

Yes but Apple is obsessed with making their devices thin as paper

I applaud Apple for going thinner. I could care less about it being waterproof.  Thinner phone means thinner case, which I like.  Plus miniaturization drives technology forward. Apple will find ways to make their products thinner while still maintaining good battery life.  That to me is innovation. 

fallenjt

Sketchy Chinese report with virtually no track record. Take it with a grain of salts.
ForceTouch home button makes sense for waterproof which 90% of users don't give the shit. Currently, Sapphire is used for Touch ID. I wonder how it works if sapphire is replaced by IPS glass. 

SpamSandwich

"DigiTimes"... smh. 

nolamacguy

isteelers said:

Ushira said:

Yes but Apple is obsessed with making their devices thin as paper

I applaud Apple for going thinner. I could care less about it being waterproof.  Thinner phone means thinner case, which I like.  Plus miniaturization drives technology forward. Apple will find ways to make their products thinner while still maintaining good battery life.  That to me is innovation. 

yup, this. for all the whiners and armchair CEOs complaining about thin devices, apple has managed to do both -- shrink their gear while improving battery or at the least keeping it the same. thats talent.

longpath

Waterproofing actually makes sense from Apple's point of view, insofar as waterproofing removes a primary reason for using a full enveloping, and often opaque, case, which obscures Apple's design aesthetics and perverts Apple's efforts to make iPhones as thin as practical (what's the point, if the iPhone spends 24/7 of its entire service live inside a case where it is barely visible and it takes a sharp eye to even tell it's an iPhone?).

genovelle

longpath said:

Waterproofing actually makes sense from Apple's point of view, insofar as waterproofing removes a primary reason for using a full enveloping, and often opaque, case, which obscures Apple's design aesthetics and perverts Apple's efforts to make iPhones as thin as practical (what's the point, if the iPhone spends 24/7 of its entire service live inside a case where it is barely visible and it takes a sharp eye to even tell it's an iPhone?).

Except the dings, scratches, and shattered screens which are more likely that dunking it in an aquarium. 

anantksundaram

No way. The iPhone 7 is doomed. A 'noted' analyst said so yesterday. 

Apple might was well go straight to the 8, and spare us this failure. 

clemynx

sog35 said:

cnocbui said:

The S7 is waterproof even though it retained the 3.5mm socket, which was made intrinsically waterproof so it doesn't even require a cover. 

took only 90 seconds for this chronic Samsung lap dog to show up.

Ad hominem. And he's right.

crowley

sog35 said:

cnocbui said:

The S7 is waterproof even though it retained the 3.5mm socket, which was made intrinsically waterproof so it doesn't even require a cover. 

took only 90 seconds for this chronic Samsung lap dog to show up.

Took less than that for you to make an ass of yourself in response.

Wind your neck in. 

badmonk

thinner, sleeker, faster, water-resistant plus high def audio creating more Apple Music and Beats revenue

or as Ming-Chi Kuo describes it...a disappointment