iPhone 7 to feature pressure-sensitive home button

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iPhone 7's home button will be a lot different.
Photo: George Tinari/Cult of Mac

Apple’s latest iPhones could be its last with physical home buttons. According to a new report from Bloomberg, the iPhone 7 series will instead feature a new pressure-sensitive home button that uses Apple’s Force Touch technology.

They might look awfully familiar, but this year’s iPhone upgrades will actually bring lots of big changes. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that we can look forward to better photos, improved home buttons, and more.

According to sources familiar with Apple’s plans, the iPhone 7’s home button will work in much the same way as Apple’s latest MacBook trackpads. When you press it, it will feel like it’s clicking, but that sensation will be generated by a haptic feedback engine.

In addition to this new home button, the larger iPhone 7 Plus will deliver a new dual-lens camera that takes brighter and more detailed photos.

“Both sensors, which each capture color differently, simultaneously take a picture, and the device produces a single, merged photograph,” the report adds. “The dual system sharpens photos taken in low-light environments, the person said.”

This new camera also allows users to zoom into their subject without loosing so much clarity. However, it will be exclusive to the larger iPhone; the smaller iPhone 7 won’t get it, but it will get a larger lens instead.

Gurman also confirms that the iPhone 7 series will indeed ship without a headphone jack. Users will either have to use wireless headsets with Bluetooth, or buy new headphones with Lightning connectors. It’s still unclear if Apple will give us an adapter or new Lightning-equipped EarPods.

The good news is, by doing away with the headphone jack, Apple will give the iPhone an additional speaker that will make it louder.

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