iPhone 5S’s home button to double as fingerprint scanner

The rumours around this year’s Apple iPhone are growing stronger with every passing day and today we have a bunch of information which flowing around the blogosphere which talk about the much rumoured fingerprint scanner on theiPhone 5S and the possible launch date of the smartphone alongside the cheaper iPhone which is expected to launch as the iPhone 5C. First lets talk about the fingerprint scanner which was first heard about in March this year and now, a research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a pretty good records when it comes to the Apple-related rumours suggests that the fingerprint scanner will be built in to the home button of the iPhone 5S.

And to accommodate this additional feature, Apple is likely to switch from a concave Home button to a convex one thus giving Apple a little more space to add the scanner. Along with this, it is being suggested that the home button will now feature a sapphire coating on it as it will help in keeping the button safe from scratches.

Convex home button creates space for fingerprint sensor; yield to improve. 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.

Sapphire prevents the home button from being scratched. A convex home button could be more easily scratched, so a harder material is required. We believe Apple will switch from plastic to sapphire, whose hardness is second only to diamond. Sapphire would protect the home button from being scratched and the fingerprint sensor from being damaged.

Now coming to the possible unveiling date of the iPhone 5S, we have already heard that it will happen sometime in early September and also heard about September 6th, but today All Things D’s source claims that the smartphone will be unveiled on September 10th which seems to be much more legit given the time frame when previous iPhone have been unveiled by the company. While the iPhone 5S is expected to be the center of attraction, we cannot really ignore the cheaper, plastic iPhone 5C which is also set to launch on the same day. We are just a month away from the possible launch of the devices as we expect more information around them to flow in, in the next few weeks.