Looking Back at Rumors of iPhone X Design With Rear Touch ID That Never Emerged
Leaker Ben Geskin today resurfaced the rumored iPhone X design featuring Touch ID on the back of the device from 2017 that never emerged.
Around five years ago, when it was rumored that Apple was moving from the long-standing iPhone design with a round Home Button and thick top and bottom bezels to an all-screen design, there were significant questions around how Apple would implement user biometric authentication. Apple ultimately unveiled Face ID, but initial rumors suggested that the company would stick with Touch ID and implement it under the display or place it on the rear of the device.
Lining up with this, a fairly consistent series of leaks at the time depicted an iPhone X design with larger top and bottom bezels, a display with unrounded corners, an aluminum rear, and a round Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the back.
Retrospectively, the widespread and detailed nature of the alleged iPhone chassis has aroused suspicion that Apple itself was behind the rumor, seeking to lower customer expectations and flood the rumor mill with false information. It is also possible that the chassis were used internally at Apple for an early iPhone X prototype.
Whether Apple was behind the wave of false leaks that briefly captivated the rumor community five years ago remains unknown, but the mysterious iPhone design continues to arouse discussion.
Flagship iPhones will have been lacking Touch ID for five years as of this fall, but rumors persist about Apple reviving the technology for the iPhone. Apple reportedly tested an under-screen fingerprint scanner for at least some iPhone 13 models, according to The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, but Apple apparently decided not to move forward with the idea.
In a September 2021 research note, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasted that Apple will launch at least one new iPhone model with an under-display fingerprint scanner in the second half of 2023. There have also been rumors of a larger iPhone SE model with Touch ID built into the Power Button, much like the latest iPad Air and iPad mini.
Popular Stories
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Juli CloverApple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital."
In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Juli CloverElevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag.
Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year.
Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro.
The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup.
The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie.
The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...
