We’ve been hearing all summer that the iPhone 5S will come with a fingerprint scanner, but it’s one of the few things that wasn’t being confirmed by the countless component leaks. That may have changed today, however. The flex cable pictured above could finally confirm that Apple’s next iPhone will have biometric security embedded within its home button.
As you can see from the comparison shot below, the iPhone 5S home button cable — if it is indeed an iPhone 5S home button cable — is noticeably different to its predecessors. It’s not just a different shape, but it appears to have its own chip that sits alongside the home button.
If you look closely, you’ll also notice that there appears to be a sensor in the center of the home button, which wasn’t there before. This could be the sensor that scans your fingerprint every time you pick up your iPhone to determine whether you are its owner.
Of course, there’s a possibility this isn’t a genuine iPhone component, and even if it is genuine, there’s no guarantee that that really is a fingerprint scanner on the home button. But it certainly seems pretty convincing. What’s more, French blog NowhereElse, which obtained this flex cable, points out that the “821-2092-01” serial number that’s printed on it fits the “821-XXXX-XXX” format that Apple uses to label all of its components.
An iPhone 5S with a fingerprint sensor suddenly looks a very real possibility, then, but we won’t get too excited until Apple confirms it. We expect that to happen at an iPhone event on September 10, which should be confirmed by press invitations any time now.
Source: NowhereElse
