The rumor mill has gradually ratcheted up as far as Apple"s yet to be announced iPhone 8 has been concerned. Earlier this month, an image of the handset"s unibody shell found its way online, showing a hole below the Apple logo that was speculated to be for the relocated Touch ID sensor. Prior to that supposed leak, images of the purported front panel of the iPhone 8 made an appearance, fuelling the belief that the device will sport a curved edge-to-edge screen.
Now, it seems that some verification of this type of screen has been discovered by two eagle-eyed iOS app developers. Guilherme Rambo and Steve Troughton-Smith, the latter of which had also spotted the new Files app for iOS 11 on the App Store ahead of Apple"s WWDC event back in June, found an image buried inside the firmware for the HomePod speaker.
The bezel-less iPhone image can be extracted from Payment_glyph_phone-D22.caar in PassKitUIFoundation.framework with the code pictured pic.twitter.com/HAyDO0E931
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
The icon of the almost bezel-less device, with its distinct lack of a physical home button and earpiece cut-out, appears to closely match other pictures that have made it into the tech press over the last month. However, that"s not the only nugget of information dug up about the anticipated smartphone.
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
Troughton-Smith also found evidence backing up earlier reports of facial recognition technology being included in the iPhone 8. Included as part of "BiometricKit", the existence of infrared face unlocking was found in numerous places throughout the HomePod"s software payload. However, it remains unclear if this capability would complement or replace Touch ID given that its inclusion and location could potentially hinge on a last-minute design decision.
Of course, until Apple makes an official announcement about the future iPhone, speculation will continue but the discoveries made by the pair of developers may lend further credence to prior rumors.
Source: Guilherme Rambo (Twitter) via TechRadar