After months upon months of iPhone 8 rumors as speculative designs, we have confirmation straight from Apple of what it will look like – albeit by accident.
Developer Guilherme Rambo found an icon representing the iPhone 8 (or whatever it ends up being called) within some firmware for Apple’s upcoming HomePod speaker. The icon was hidden among Apple Pay files, and the device is seemingly codenamed ‘D22.’
Here's a higher resolution version: pic.twitter.com/p60xeEn7Ie
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017
It features the same narrow-bezel design we’ve seen so often in the past few months. A previous report by iDrop News, which featured a virtually-identical shape, pegged the bezels at 4mm all around, aside from an area reserved for sensors up top.
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Another developer, Steve Troughton-Smith, confirmed the icon, and also found evidence Apple is implementing an infrared face unlock system, a la Samsung. The feature is codenamed Pearl ID and should work in the dark.
I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
That said, it’s not clear if Apple is using infrared for just your eyes, like Samsung does, or if it scans your whole face. Samsung also has a face-unlock feature, but as it doesn’t use infrared, it’s generally deemed less secure than the iris scanner. Whatever the case, hopefully Apple’s implementation is a little less finicky.
iPhone events are generally held in September, so it shouldn’t be too long until we find out more.
Via TechCrunch
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