Alleged 'iPhone 8' schematic shows wireless charging pad, no rear Touch ID

Posted:
in iPhone edited April 2017
New purported schematics for Apple's "iPhone 8" show the rear of the device, possibly backing up claims that the product will switch to vertically-aligned lenses -- albeit without a Touch ID sensor.




The schematics stem from an unknown source, but were shared on Twitter by Steve Hemmerstoffer, well known for the accuracy of his own leaks. If genuine they would presumably come from one of Apple's assembly partners like Foxconn, or a parts manufacturer such as Catcher.

The leak contrasts with a document that emerged last week, featuring a cutout on the back seemingly shaped for a Touch ID sensor. In its place is a large pad, presumably for some implementation of wireless charging technology.

Rear-mounted Touch ID is generally considered unlikely, but at the same time, the company has supposedly had trouble integrating a sensor into the phone's edge-to-edge, 5.8-inch OLED display, which should swap a physical home button for a virtual one. Apple could be forced to delay the product's launch, if it doesn't scrap embedded Touch ID entirely.

Multiple reports have backed the idea of Apple shifting to a vertical camera setup. While there might be some other technical advantages, at the least the arrangement might be better for shooting in landscape mode like a traditional camera.

The "iPhone 8" is expected to ship later this year, with some other features including a faster "A11" processor and wireless charging.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    This was so obvious I predicted it. A fingerprint scanner on the middle of the back of the phone? Really? Has to be the worst design idea I've heard in recent times. And you know how to make it worse? Put your rear camera right beside it and give the housing the same shape as the scanner—surely that'll fuck with user's minds. It'll certainly distract them from the fact that they are holding a potential grenade.
    edited April 2017 Metriacanthosauruspscooter63jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 30
    mejsricmejsric Posts: 152member
    Big touch ID on the back. ;)
    thtdoozydozenKevin KJL
  • Reply 3 of 30
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    Tomorrow there will be another industry insider with a claim of an iPhone schematic that shows the finger print reader on the side of the device. Lets just keep throwing shit at the wall and see what sticks. Eventually, you'll get it right so you can claim you were right as always!
    Guxmanjbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 30
    FatmanFatman Posts: 513member
    The big Touch ID on back is for your ass print. You've heard of butt-dialing? Now you can log in with the phone in your back pocket.
    williamhboltsfan17mobirddoozydozenradarthekatpscooter63bageljoeywatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 30
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    Majsric ninjaed my on the Touch ID joke. :smiley: 

    One interesting tidbit I'm obsessed with is what appears to be a second speaker slot at the top. It's been multiple schematics so far. There's the one that obviously looks like an ear speaker slot that would be either beneath the display or cut through the display. But there is another above it on the top edge or maybe the backside top edge. I wonder what that is. Microphone. The ear speaker is a combine load speaker and ear speaker like in the iPhone 7, and has two air openings like the Watch? 

    That whole sensor, speaker cluster up there is confounding actually. That's a lot of stuff to fit in that small a volume.
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 30
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    First, I have not idea what most of you are seeing, I see no evidence of touch ID sensor on the back.

    On a another note, this actually looks like a real 3D CAD drawing (not a schematics) I am personally use to seeing. verse everything we have been seeing to date. This does look like something that would come from Apple verses some guy in mom's basement playing Google Stetchup.

    edited April 2017 mainyehcdoozydozen
  • Reply 7 of 30
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    ireland said:
    This was so obvious I predicted it. A fingerprint scanner on the middle of the back of the phone? Really? Has to be the worst design idea I've heard in recent times. And you know how to make it worse? Put your rear camera right beside it and give the housing the same shape as the scanner—surely that'll fuck with user's minds. It'll certainly distract them from the fact that they are holding a potential grenade.
    Agreed. Already in reviews of the latest Samsung they note that because the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera that theyre accidentally putting their fingers over the camera and smudging it. Stupid design decision -- yet oddly these same reviewers give a glowing review based on how the device looks rather than how it actually works. As we know, design is also how a thing works.
    radarthekatpscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 30
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Fatman said:
    The big Touch ID on back is for your ass print. You've heard of butt-dialing? Now you can log in with the phone in your back pocket.
    The TouchID on the flip side could be fantastic ... but you have to hold it right.  ;)
  • Reply 9 of 30
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    It's obviously a floppy wireless fingerprint burner...
    hypoluxawatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 30
    mainyehcmainyehc Posts: 133member
    maestro64 said:

    On a another note, this actually looks like a real 3D CAD drawing (not a schematics) I am personally use to seeing. verse everything we have been seeing to date. This does look like something that would come from Apple verses some guy in mom's basement playing Google Stetchup.

    ^^^ This. I may not be a product designer myself (I am actually a graphic and type designer by trade) but I studied at a Fine Arts faculty and had some manual technical drawing training (and, much later on, had to take an optional subject on my MFA that revolved a lot around 3D printing), know a lot of product designers personally and have been to enough “fab labs” (both the one in our faculty and another funded by the city council) to know what a CAD drawing looks like.

    And this definitely looks legit. Sure, it may be one of the 9-10 rumoured prototypes, but it does lend bigger credence to the earlier drawings (which now, in hindsight, appear to be just simplified schematics based on these, only with less visible layers, instead of mock-ups) and puts it on par, if not way above the other sketchy 3D render with the TouchID cutout.

    Also, while on the subject of cutouts, it seems that said cutout really was for TouchID and not wireless charging; have you all seen the size of both the charging pad depicted in this drawing and, duh, even the diameter of the pad already found on the currently shipping Apple Watch? They are huge by comparison, and if the pad has to be encased in any material other than metal, there's no way Apple would not revert to the iPhone 4-esque glass-and-metal sandwich concept or some variation thereof and instead put an unseeming cutout on the back. Nope. That would be ugly af.

    Also, for all of those who think that Apple would either wait to have a truly wireless charging solution instead of going with a traditional electromagnetic induction pad solution so they could get rid of connectors altogether: nope. I'm thinking that they will still keep the Lightning connector, as well as the Lightning-to-USB cable, Lightning earbuds and Lightning-to-Audio Jack adaptor pack-ins. The charging pads (maybe in battery case, desk/nightstand- and dashboard-mounting varieties) will be nice-to-have accessories but optional purchases, in typical Apple fashion (just like the expensive and stock-constrained AirPods are). Mark my words.
    edited April 2017 radarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 30
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,243member
    maestro64 said:

    First, I have not idea what most of you are seeing, I see no evidence of touch ID sensor on the back.

    On a another note, this actually looks like a real 3D CAD drawing (not a schematics) I am personally use to seeing. verse everything we have been seeing to date. This does look like something that would come from Apple verses some guy in mom's basement playing Google Stetchup.

    I hadn't realized that Sketchup was developed by Google. I better delete it immediately :)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 30
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    ireland said:
    This was so obvious I predicted it. A fingerprint scanner on the middle of the back of the phone? Really? Has to be the worst design idea I've heard in recent times. And you know how to make it worse? Put your rear camera right beside it and give the housing the same shape as the scanner—surely that'll fuck with user's minds. It'll certainly distract them from the fact that they are holding a potential grenade.
    Agreed. Already in reviews of the latest Samsung they note that because the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera that theyre accidentally putting their fingers over the camera and smudging it. Stupid design decision -- yet oddly these same reviewers give a glowing review based on how the device looks rather than how it actually works. As we know, design is also how a thing works.
    To be fair if design was about how it works only Apple's products would also look a lot different. An Apple TV Remote with a glass touchpad, that if you drop on a typical wooden floor, smashes to pieces. Not good design. Speaking to those tech journalists who gave the S8 glowing reviews: they are retards with 6-month memory spans. They are barely qualified to use the products they are reviewing.
    edited April 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 30
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    ireland said:
    ireland said:
    This was so obvious I predicted it. A fingerprint scanner on the middle of the back of the phone? Really? Has to be the worst design idea I've heard in recent times. And you know how to make it worse? Put your rear camera right beside it and give the housing the same shape as the scanner—surely that'll fuck with user's minds. It'll certainly distract them from the fact that they are holding a potential grenade.
    Agreed. Already in reviews of the latest Samsung they note that because the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera that theyre accidentally putting their fingers over the camera and smudging it. Stupid design decision -- yet oddly these same reviewers give a glowing review based on how the device looks rather than how it actually works. As we know, design is also how a thing works.
    To be fair if design was about how it works only Apple's products would also look a lot different. An Apple TV Remote with a glass touchpad, that if you drop on a typical wooden floor, smashes to pieces. Not good design. Speaking to those tech journalists who gave the S8 glowing reviews: they are retards with 6-month memory spans. They are barely qualified to use the products they are reviewing.
    It wouldn't surprise me if Samsung is paying for some of these glowing reviews. They've already been busted several times paying people to write negative reviews about competing phones so it's not out of the question they pay for good reviews as well. 
    pscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 30
    Maybe it's a trackpad on the back that you can scroll with instead of having your hand in the way on the face. Also used as Touch ID. Genius idea! Try it with your phone now. Consider this post a pre-patent :)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 30
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Maybe it's a trackpad on the back that you can scroll with instead of having your hand in the way on the face. Also used as Touch ID. Genius idea! Try it with your phone now. Consider this post a pre-patent :)

    that could be an interesting idea, however, I think I remember a phone out there pre-iphone era that had some sort of touch pad on the backside.
  • Reply 16 of 30
    hypoluxahypoluxa Posts: 694member
    It's a galactic worm-hole portal entrance.
    radarthekatboredumb
  • Reply 17 of 30
    AppleInsider said:
    "technical advantages, at the least the arrangement might be better for shooting in landscape mode like a traditional camera."

    I do not understand said advantage. It would seem that either dual camera orientation would not affect usability, but more of a matter of internal layout constraints. Please correct me.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    AppleInsider said:
    "technical advantages, at the least the arrangement might be better for shooting in landscape mode like a traditional camera."

    I do not understand said advantage. It would seem that either dual camera orientation would not affect usability, but more of a matter of internal layout constraints. Please correct me.
    Totally agree. Just mentally rotate that dual-cam module in the schematic 90°. It's going to overlap with the front facing sensor cluster near the top. Or look at how jam packed the iPhone 7 Plus dual-cam and front facing speaker/sensor cluster is. This iPhone 8 is supposed to be about a centimeter less wide. These components aren't shrinking. Rotating the dual-cam module to be vertical would alleviate a lot of packaging conflicts at the top.

    If KGI is to be believed, Apple is going to stack to PCB boards on top of each other in order to maintain battery kHWr to display size ratios. The rumored 2.25:1 aspect ratio 5.8" display will actually be smaller than a 16:9 5.5" display, so the rumors of a 2700 mAHr battery makes sense too. The stacked boards also likely drove the thickness to 8.5 mm that it is rumored to be. Sounds sporty in the heat dissipation department.
  • Reply 19 of 30
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    ireland said:
    ireland said:
    This was so obvious I predicted it. A fingerprint scanner on the middle of the back of the phone? Really? Has to be the worst design idea I've heard in recent times. And you know how to make it worse? Put your rear camera right beside it and give the housing the same shape as the scanner—surely that'll fuck with user's minds. It'll certainly distract them from the fact that they are holding a potential grenade.
    Agreed. Already in reviews of the latest Samsung they note that because the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera that theyre accidentally putting their fingers over the camera and smudging it. Stupid design decision -- yet oddly these same reviewers give a glowing review based on how the device looks rather than how it actually works. As we know, design is also how a thing works.
    To be fair if design was about how it works only Apple's products would also look a lot different. An Apple TV Remote with a glass touchpad, that if you drop on a typical wooden floor, smashes to pieces. Not good design. Speaking to those tech journalists who gave the S8 glowing reviews: they are retards with 6-month memory spans. They are barely qualified to use the products they are reviewing.
    I dropped my ATV4 remote on the wooden floor many times and it ain't got even a little scratch!
    that's aside. This sketch looks like a real deal. Everything looks so Apple design!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 30
    analogjackanalogjack Posts: 1,073member
    What about those little gear things on the left no body has seemed to notice that they could portend a wind up iPhone as a solution to the battery problem. Remove the battery altogether and replace it with a little mechanical energy storage device that the user simply winds up a couple of times a day.
    boredumb
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