iPhone 8’s Touch ID could have a surprising new home

By

Sony Xperia
Sony devices have fingerprint-scanning power buttons.
Photo: Sony

We’re all wondering where Apple will place Touch ID on the iPhone 8, with the physical Home button set to disappear in favor of a larger display. The latest report indicates it could be embedded in the handset’s power button on its right side.

Following in the footsteps of Samsung and LG in an effort to make this year’s iPhone just as pretty as its rivals, Apple is expected to give the iPhone 8 an edge-to-edge OLED display with extremely narrow bezels.

That means the Home button we’ve become accustomed to over the past ten years has to go. Some reports have claimed Touch ID will go with it, while others say Apple is working to embed the fingerprint scanner beneath the iPhone 8’s display, or on its back.

There is another option.

Forbes suggests Apple could put Touch ID in the iPhone 8’s power button on its side — in much the same way Sony has on its more recent Xperia smartphones. This is backed by a patent application Apple filed in December for a “Finger biometric sensor assembly.”

“In particular, the finger biometric sensor assembly may be carried by an input device, e.g., power button, along the relative thin edge of the housing,” the application reads. “This may allow for the display to be larger, for example.”

Apple would have to make the power button larger, but more recent renders have indicated it already plans to do just that. It would make the scanner easier to access when using things like Apple Pay, where a rear-facing scanner could prove intrusive.

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