Following a similar report from the WSJ earlier this summer, a new report from Bloomberg today briefly mentions that the iPhone introduced in 2017 will not feature the iconic Home button that has been present from the start. The Bloomberg piece focused more broadly on an iPhone for Japan with support for FeliCa payments.
A WSJ piece earlier this year went into more details concerning the 2017 iPhone, noting that Apple wants to create a device that has a full single piece of glass on the front. Obviously, the Home button would prevent Apple from moving towards that goal. Earlier this month, a pair of reports claimed that Foxconn is developing all-glass casing for an upcoming iPhone. KGI has also reported on Apple’s 2017 iPhone plans, noting that the company is working towards an all-glass design similar to that of the iPhone 4.
It’s still unclear as to how Apple will make up for the lack of a Home button, but the functionality is likely to be implemented into the home screen in one way or another.
The iPhone 7 introduced later this year is said to feature a design similar to that of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, but will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, redesign the antenna lines, and include a variety of camera improvements.
The iPhone 7 introduced later this year is also said to drop the traditional moving Home button in favor of a Force Touch-like button. Essentially, this means that the button won’t actually move. Instead, a taptic feedback will be provided to give the feeling of an actual touch, much like the trackpad on recent MacBooks.
What do you think of the possibility of the 2017 iPhone featuring no physical home button? Let us know in the comments.
