Apple's next iPhone, presumed to be named the iPhone 7, will come with a Force Touch home button, rumors claim.
The statement was made by analysts from Cowen and Company, with more details on the next Apple flagship smartphone emerging as it enters mass production.
But what exactly is a Force Touch home button? It means the physical home button found on current iPhones will no longer be there, and Apple will reportedly replace it with a home button that will be sitting flush with the rest of the device.
Instead of a physical mechanism that requires users to press their thumb or finger on the home button, the new home button will be using Apple's Force Touch technology. There will be a motor inside the smartphone that will let users feel as if they are physically depressing the home button upon placing their finger on it.
The report by Cowen corroborates with recent rumors that the iPhone 7 will have a home button with haptic feedback to be able to simulate a click, similar to the trackpads on the recent models of Apple's MacBooks. News on the iPhone 7 possibly featuring a touch-sensitive home button was also reported earlier in the year, but first surfaced back in June last year.
The elimination of a physical home button, in addition to providing the iPhone 7 with a cleaner design, means one less physical component for the smartphone that could at some point fail and require a replacement. There have been many issues related to the physical nature of the iPhone's home button, and its replacement with a Force Touch home button will look to solve all these problems.
One new issue that could possibly arise from the switch would be the method to reset the iPhone. The smartphone can currently be reset by holding down the home button and the power button at the same time, but with a Force Touch home button, such a method may not be possible. As such, the involvement of the home button in resetting the iPhone would likely be moved to the volume buttons, which will be the only other buttons on the smartphone aside from the power button.
According to Cowen, the claim that the iPhone 7 will have a Force Touch home button was made through field checks that back up the company's research and predictions. The company's analysts also expect the iPhone 7 to be waterproof and without a headphone jack, as stated by previous reports.
