You have to love last-minute leaks. Shortly afterThe Wall Street Journalpublished a report confirming thatthe iPhone 5Swould indeed sport a built-in fingerprint sensor, another bit of evidence surfaced in favor of the feature.
What you see above is an illustration of what is believed to be an iPhone 5S, runningiOS 7and sporting a silver ring around its Home button. The photo is believed to have been taken from within the handset’s user guide…
The image comes from our friends over atNowhereelse.fr, who describe the source that sent it to them as “very reliable.” It looks legitimate to us, and NWE has a great track record. So we wouldn’t be surprised if it was the real deal.
Assuming it is, it appears that the device’s long-rumored fingerprint sensor feature is going to be referred to as ‘Touch ID.’ Note the silver ring around the iPhone’s Home button, as it’s something that has popped up inrecent chatter.
It’s believed that users will be able to utilize the sensor simply by holding their finger over the button, instead of having to swipe across like older scanners. The feature, at first at least, will be used mainly for unlocking iPhones.
But it’s the stuff that will come after that that has us all excited. Apple could use the sensor to replace iTunes and iCloud passwords, and then later offer similar access to third-party developers. Think about that. No passwords.
Of course, we won’t know for sure what Apple’s plans are until it takes the stage later today. The company’s media event, where it’s expected to unveilthe iPhone 5Sand low-costiPhone 5C, is slated to begin at 10 am Pacific time.
