Could Apple be about to make one of the biggest changes in iPhone design since its launch in 2007?
The iPhone often gets slated for it’s design that has barely changed since the launch of the first model back in 2007. Apart from outer styling changes, things haven’t changed much.
They have gotten thinner and larger. They have moved the earphone socket from the top to the bottom, and they have swapped from a 30-pin connector to the Lightning connector. Other than that, most other changes have been internal.
Any iPhone looks like an iPhone from the front or the back.
When Apple introduced the iPhone 5s, it exchanged the regular home button – with its square symbol – for a plain one with finger print sensor, and this has carried on through later iPhones.
However, rumours are that the home button could be about to be radically changed. While some think the iPhone 7 (expected to be released in 2016) will feature a screen with built-in home button, I think Apple will go a different way.
The trouble with an on-screen only home button is what happens when you are in an app and you need to get out?
Screen real estate is something every phone manufacturer aims to cram as much into. Large borders and screen bezels have been banished, and even the likes of Samsung with their Galaxy range have gone about making their main button a lot smaller over recent handsets.
But what if they moved the home button from the front altogether. The home button doesn’t have a huge function,s o does it need to be on the front?
It brings you out to the home screen from any app and brings up the app switcher, it accesses Siri, and it can be used with the power button to take a screenshot – to name its main functions. But none of these require that the home button be on the front.
How if Apple moved it to the side? Place it on the left side at the bottom, where mosts people’s small finger would sit if holding it. It would be around the same size as the volume buttons.
This would mean Apple could either extend the screen all the way to the bottom – or keep the screen size the same as the current models but make the handset itself shorter.
Touch ID
The only problem I could see with this is Touch ID. Something that small could be a problem when it comes to making it a fingerprint reading button.
For the 7 Only
I doubt Apple will make any external changes to this years models. The S models (3GS, 4S, and 5S) are usually identical to their predecessor but with beefed up insides, so any radical new changes would be seen in the 2016 iPhone 7 range.
Conclusion
You decide. Apple need to do something to keep people interested, and faster and better just isn’t going to cut it much longer. They have already caved and offered larger screens, so let’s see what else they do.
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