Apple HomePod firmware points to upcoming iPhone features
By Robin-Leigh Chetty 31 July 2017 | Categories: newsThe iPhone rumour mill took a slightly odd turn this morning, with one of Apple's device reportedly outing two key features for the company's next flagship smartphone. More specifically, the Siri-enabled HomePod speaker that Apple revealed at WWDC 17 has a firmware update that points to the upcoming iPhone's bezel-less screen design, as well as infrared face recognition to unlock the device.
Both these features have been rumoured in the past, but this latest discovery by developer Steve Troughton-Smith appears to add some credence to the claims. Troughton-Smith tweeted several messages about the firmware update this morning, providing a screenshot of what the new iPhone may look like in the process.
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
Based on the image above, it certainly falls in line with some of the renderings we've seen in the past few months, with the top portion of the display housing a small portion of space for the iPhone's front facing camera and speaker.
Face recognition is also a feature which other manufacturers like Samsung have jumped on, so Apple doing the same seems likely. That said, they'll probably still have a home button for the new iPhone for unlocking and biometric payments, but whether it's physical or virtual remains to be seen.
With Apple remaining mum on the subject, we should get greater clarity post-IFA 2017 in September, which is the company's usual modus operandi when it comes to iPhone news and press conferences.
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