Rumors are flying left and right about which features will be rolling out on the next iPhone. It’s an annual cycle that usually hits its peak going into late July, as Apple usually holds its announcements in September.
According to The Verge, Apple accidentally pushed out firmware for its new HomePod, releasing in December, and developers such as Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) and others went digging through the code that came with it. After some time, he took to Twitter to reveal some interesting tidbits of what’s to come.
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 Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017
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 Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
(It’s 1000% real, folks)
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
There are little tidbits in the OS suggesting upcoming iPhone will have a 3x screen at 1125×2436. Hard to gauge what that will mean for devs pic.twitter.com/SK8QjOAfDt
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
The new status bar seems a lot more complex and powerful in design, maybe even interactive 🤔
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
It looks like the new iPhones might support 'tap to wake', much like Windows Phones/Lumias
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
Looks like ARKit and Photos are getting a bunch of new things to go with the front-facing depth camera, like ARFaceAnchor
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
The virtual home button seems to just be called the 'home indicator' — looks like the OS has no qualms about hiding it in certain contexts
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
There's also a lot of new references to facial expression detection pic.twitter.com/8PsPVj1QqU
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) August 1, 2017
The keyboard has a new 'dock' UI. Could be just a refactor, but I'd like to imagine it moves some buttons (globe, mic) into home button area
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
Here are the two iPhone face designs for the Apple Pay payment animation glyph (the old one being a 5S) pic.twitter.com/67QxOd1Dlf
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 1, 2017
So, it looks like we’re getting ready for a completely redesigned look with some amazing new features to a world-famous device. Everything from facial recognition to a bigger screen and the removal of the home button, it’ll be interesting to see if Apple’s newest device will live up to the massive hype it’s gathered.
With all of these updates, we’re hoping Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Let us know what you think of this leak in the comments below!
