Apple May Remove This Iconic iPhone Feature
After Apple kills the headphone jack with the iPhone 7, it could get rid of the home button next, according to a new report. Apple is reportedly working on a significant redesign of the iPhone for the 2017 model that will not include a home button, reports Bloomberg. This will allow Apple to focus more on the display, which is said to have a curved design similar to that of Samsung's newer smartphones, according to Nikkei Asian Review. Blog Apple Insider also reported last year that Apple is working on an iPhone without a home button. Removing the home button would be a crucial move for Apple, considering it has functioned as the portal to technologies like TouchID, Apple Pay, and Siri. Still, many modern Android phones have axed the physical home button to allow for larger screens. These phones instead have navigational keys baked into their software or touch-sensitive sensors that sit on the bezel. Next year's model is expected to represent a major redesign of the iPhone, while this year's version is said to be more of an incremental update. Apple has released its iPhones on a tick-tock pattern in recent years, and this year's iPhone 7 launch is expected to be the first departure from that schedule, according to The Wall Street Journal. Every other year, Apple typically introduces a major overhaul of the iPhone, while the models in between iterate on the iPhone's current form factor. The iPhone 6, for instance, represented a complete redesign of the iPhone compared to the 5 and 5s models, while the iPhone 6s kept that same design but added some new features, like 3D Touch. The overhaul reportedly coming in 2017 will mark 10 years since the original iPhone launched in 2007. Apple declined TIME's request for comment.