A new leaked component from China backs rumours that the iPhone 8 will not have a fingerprint reader

pulse

July 11, 2017 2:06 PM

The lack of a cutout on the back would support recent reports that claim Apple may ditch Touch ID for good.

The OLED display on the "iPhone 8" will reportedly cover the device's entire front surface.

A new image from Chinese microblogging service Weibo (which we saw via AppleInsider) shows what is thought to be the glass back panel of Apple's forthcoming iPhone 8 — and there is no cutout for a fingerprint reader.

The panel supports rumours that the "special edition" iPhone, designed and built on the occasion of the device's tenth birthday, is going to use glass instead of aluminum, and revert to a "glass sandwich" design similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S.

The image also shows a vertical cutout for the dual camera, which has also been reported on a number of times.

A recent note to investors by KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — who has a good track when it comes to Apple — backed earlier reports by Bloomberg that claimed Apple was ready to ditch its fingerprint scanning technology entirely.

The company supposedly tried to integrate a sensor underneath the OLED display, which is allegedly going to cover the iPhone's entire front surface, but failed to make meaningful process and decided to get rid of Touch ID altogether.

Early prototypes showed that Apple also played with the idea of placing the reader on the back, much like Samsung's Galaxy S8 or Google's Pixel phones, but ultimately decided against it.

Apple then tried to look for viable alternative solutions, and reportedly ended up choosing a face-scanning technology that would work even when the phone is not facing the user's eyes directly.

pulse