The Next iPhone: Home Button Remains, But It Looks Different
April 23, 2012
A Chinese supplier is offering what they are calling “iPhone 5 home buttons,” that look slightly different than the buttons on the iPhone 4S/4, according to AppleBitch (via MacRumors).
As said by the Chinese site TVC-Mall.com, the black and white buttons are being sold under the category of iPhone 5 replacement parts. Assuming these parts are genuine, it suggests Apple isn’t planning to bring a touch sensitive home button to their next handset, as previous rumors suggested for both the new iPad and next iPhone. Says MacRumors, the new home buttons appear to have “a rounded square shape much like iOS app icons, but retain the round depression for the button as seen in existing devices.”
What isn’t known, however, is whether the button will be flush with the surface of the iPhone with the round part depressed slightly or if the rounded square portion might be below the surface of the device. We also don’t know whether the new button will be stronger than those on the current model. Many have complained that the home button on the current iPhone and iPad models can stick at times and are easy to break.
Today's rumor follows another one from earlier in the day that suggests the next iPhone will be much thinner than the iPhone 4S/4.
Expected to launch anywhere from June through October this year, the next iPhone will be Apple's sixth. The first iPhone debuted in 2007.
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(Photo: New iPhone concept by Cicares Design)
