RUMORS: Apple To Remove Iconic Home Button In 2017 iPhone

Apple is rumored to be removing the iconic
home button in the 2017 iPhone. The news
lines up with previous reports about the
smartphone looking like a "single sheet of

glass" and OLED display. (Photo : Justin
Sullivan | Getty Images)

Apple To Remove Iconic Home
Button In 2017 iPhone: Rumor
By Vincent Lanaria | Aug 26, 2016 08:16 AM
EDT
The iPhone 7 may be making the current
headlines regarding Apple news, but there
are already details of the 2017 iPhone
cropping up. The talk in town now is that the
Cupertino brand could be ditching the iconic
home button in the next flagship.
Aligning with the development are the reports
that the iteration will look like a "single sheet
of glass" and sport an OLED display.
Interestingly enough, it will mark the device's
10th anniversary, and that's arguably the
reason why speculations and info about it are
already surfacing even though the iPhone 7
hasn't rolled out yet.
The news comes from none other than
Bloomberg, and the bit about the removal of
the home button was mentioned as part of
the report regarding the upcoming iPhone
getting the mobile tap-to-pay FeliCa support
for transit payments in Japan.
More than that, another notable change
expected to come to the Apple-branded
smartphone is that there will be a premium
option that has a curved display, just like
Samsung's typical offerings. On top of that,
the South Korean manufacturer is also said to
be the supplier for the "edged" OLED screens.
On a related note, the iPhone 7 won't be
getting rid of the home button, but it's
expected to do away with something else that
everybody is already accustomed to: the
headphone jack. In its place will be a
Lightning port instead, and it pretty much
alienates users who have invested in audio
equipment with a 3.5 mm plug.
In light of that update, Apple cofounder Steve
Wozniak said that it's likely going to "tick off a
lot of people." At the time, it was already
pretty clear that many fans were unhappy
about this "upgrade" of sorts.
Fortunately, not everything in store is
negative, as the iPhone 7 is said to get a
memory improvement to 3 GB worth of
RAM and might be fitted with two rear
cameras.
To boil things down, the upcoming iPhone
models are straying off from the traditional
designs so far. While it's already odd for the
iPhone 7 to lose the headphone socket, the
2017 iPhone removing the familiar home
button is an even stranger thing, but it does
indicate how Apple wants to drastically
redesign its smartphone lineup in the near
future.
What do you think of a home button-less
iPhone? Feel free to hit us up in the
comments section below and let us know.

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