The countdown to Apple's hotly-anticipated Sept. 10 press event has begun and leaks pertaining to the impending iPhone 5S are increasing as the D-day draws nearer.
While front and rear panels of the iPhone 5S have leaked in the past few weeks, now images of the home button of the smartphone have surfaced online, revealing that the handset will indeed pack in a fingerprint scanner.
While this is not the first time when the home button for the impending Apple smartphone has leaked, this time round we get to see the biometric sensor-enabled home button clearly along with the wiring.
The images are courtesy of noted Apple leakster Sonny Dickson.
"We've gotten our hands on dozens of sharp high-res images of the iPhone 5S home button hardware. Notably, the sensors and flex cable bear a remarkably different design when compared to the iPhone 5 home button - and even previous supposed 5S part leaks. While the design differences have yet to be technically assessed, they could have a whole lot to do with the rumored biometric fingerprint scanner that numerous pundits and analysts have predicted," notes Sonny Dickson.
Rumors suggesting that the iPhone 5S will come with a fingerprint reader built into the home key have been flying thick and fast for a while now, and now the leaked images reaffirm the same. Previously, reports have also hinted that the iPhone 5S would tout a convex sapphire home button, which will double up as a fingerprint scanner.
"We think that a fingerprint sensor will be placed under the home button of iPhone 5S. However, assembling it could be difficult as the space under home button is limited as it already has to accommodate the Lightning connector, speaker and microphone. Thus, we think the shape of the home button could be changed from concave to convex to create more space for a fingerprint sensor," revealed KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via 9to5Mac) earlier in August.
The leaked gallery of images from Sonny Dickson gives us a glimpse into the home button's hardware assembly. The new button, the wiring and chips also differ considerably from what Apple has included in its previous iPhones, which hints that the company has included the much-rumored fingerprint reader in the smartphone this time round.
With the Apple event round the corner, we only have a short while to wait before the company unleashes the iPhone 5S, but whether it will pack in a fingerprint sensor remains to be seen.
