The iPhone 5 News Blog

When a new iPhone 5 parts rumor such as this one surfaces, what should a blogger write about — what the rumor implies about the iPhone 5, or whether the rumor is believable? How about both.

OK — here we go again with the iPhone home button and leaked parts rumors. This one, concerning the home button, comes from the Apple Bitch, who apparently went digging around the China-based TVC-Mall.com, which is notorious for posting and selling parts for past, present, and future Apple gadgets. Apple Bitch reports that “TVC Mall has, in the past, appeared to act as a source for leaks of other components for unreleased Apple products. In January, prior to the launch of the new iPad, replacement power cables, microphone flex cables, headphone jack connectors and a Bluetooth antenna for the unreleased device appeared on the site.”

Like every purported sighting of an iPhone part, there is a built-in dubiousness associated with this rumor. I need not remind you of the proliferation of purported “iPhone 5″ cases that were on sale for much of the summer of 2011, which tech analysts dissected in hopes of diving the new size and features of an iPhone 5 that never emerged. Heck — even CaseMate got into the fray with iPhone 5 cases before the official announcement.

And don’t forget — we’ve also seen leaked photos of home buttons before as well.

Remember this leaked photograph of the home button that appeared to explode the hopes of an overhauled iPhone 5 in 2011? We also had this photo to contend with, showing assemblers working on what was purported to be iPhone 5 glass displays with a cut-out for an elongated home button. Many believed that this photo was a sneak peak at the capacitive, multi-touch home button that had been heavily rumored for the iPhone in 2011.

On the subject of the elongated home button, the Apple Bitch appears to trust these new home photo photos, commenting that “The biggest surprise, or perhaps disappointment, for some is that the Home buttons appear to be round in shape. If the parts turn out to be genuine, then this would essentially quash any suggestion that Apple was redesigning the iPhone 5 with an oval touch capacitive Home button.” It is worth noting that if — and if is a big if here — these home buttons are legitimate, they are in fact smaller than the original home buttons used as late as the iPhone 4S. The actual circular button on the right is smaller, even though its base is the same dimensions as the old home button.

This would indicate to me that Apple could in essence reduce the size of the home button itself, while still conforming its connective features so that internal components would not have to change as much. All of this could be leading to a slight increase in screen size while still maintaining the basic dimensions of the iPhone, a notion that has recently picked up steam in the rumor mill. But we’re a long way from believing this rumor. Sure, it is possible that a Foxconn staffer stuck their hand into a vat of these home buttons and somehow (I don’t want to know how) smuggled them past security. But a more likely explanation is that tweaking a few home buttons can throw a lot of traffic to a website like TVC-Mall.com.

By Michael Nace 

The notion that the iPhone 5 will lose its iconic home button has risen once again in the rumor mill. But is Apple really ready to do away with it in favor of a next-generation solution?

For those of you who have been following this blog for a year or more, you’re starting to see a pattern develop in 2012′s iPhone 5 rumor mill: what goes around comes around. This week, it’s a recycling of the disappearing iPhone 5 home button, thanks to an iPhone 5 concept video that went viral. The video depicts a larger-screened iPhone 5 sans the front-facing home button, instead opting for two squeezable side button areas, much like how you can squeeze some of the Mac mice to bring up multiple windows. The designer imagines the two side buttons not only as a way to ergonomically get from an app back to the home screen, but also as a way of replacing swiping in order to navigate the home screen’s icons.

While the media has expressed some degree of excitement or interest in the concept, it is not grounded in any patent or actionable rumor, and for that matter, I don’t particularly like the idea of replacing one button with two, and replacing a tangible button that clicks with two side buttons that you squeeze but never get any real physical feedback from.

But whether or not Apple opts for this new dual-side button format or not, it’s worth posing the question — now in this new year — as to whether or not Cupertino will do away with the home button once and for all.

As we all know, Steve Jobs was famous for designing devices with fewer physical buttons. The Macs, after all, make quite a statement by having no eject button for their drives, and no simple on-off switch. Perhaps it is seen as a feature that proves the Mac to be a more intelligent, intuitive next-generation computer, a means of avoiding a potential hardware breakdown, or just a cool aesthetic feature, but the minimally-buttoned gadget is definitely a species of Apple.

And yet, while alive, Mr. Jobs felt compelled to maintain the home button and side buttons on the iPhone and iPad, even up until his death.

Last year, we had talked about gesture control “smart bezels” (this is bound to get rumored on again — just wait for it) that could replace volume and other navigation buttons with smooth, integrated touch surfaces that would complement the main display. Perhaps all of this was in store for the aborted 2011 iPhone 5, but to this point, we’ve had no reason to believe that to be the case.

There are, however, a couple of new developments that we can look toward in order to determine what might be in store for the home button’s fate on the iPhone 5. First up is Siri. In many ways, Siri has already moved the home button, conceptually speaking. By challenging the iPhone user to interface more frequently with the headset, pressing its button to give commands to Siri, Apple has now lobbied for the hardware-based “action button” on the iPhone to be moved up onto the earbud controls. Granted, this is not the same as the home button — but it could be on the iPhone 5. Apple could very well offer a hardware home button on the headset, and make the iPhone 5′s home button part of the actual display. Or, the user could simply use a specific gesture to get back to the home screen.

Another factor to monitor is the iPad 3.

I argued recently in another article that Apple may be looking to move the design of the iPhone and iPad farther apart, so as to further encourage users to own both. That being said, if we see the home button on the iPad 3 disappear, we may very well surmise that it might be gone for the iPhone 5 as well. Tech pundits are citing the larger screen of the iPhone 5 as a reason for losing the home button — well, the iPad 3 is also rumored to get a resolution upgrade. It’s possible that Apple will set the state for no home button with the iPad 3 and follow up with the same new feature on the iPhone 5.

Pardon the pun, but the home button is a touchy subject for iPhone users. For as much as iPhone users tend to love the gesture control innovations that new iOS versions roll out, the analog home button somehow complements the gesture experience. and now, with rumors that 3D gesture control could one day come to the iPhone, users might be thinking that future mobile computing may be more like playing the theremin than operating what we think of today as a smartphone. In short, iPhone users may not be ready to give up the comfort of the home button.

But in Cupertino’s usual style, it doesn’t really matter what we think, does it?

By Michael Nace

From HowToArena.com

Earlier photos that purported to show reams of new, larger iPhone 5 screens sporting elongated home buttons has met some fresh skepticism.

iPhone 5 enthusiasts may remember a set of leaked photos from mid August that purported to depict staffers at either Fxconn or Pegatron churning out reams of new screens for the iPhone 5, and that these new screens were decidedly larger than the iPhone 4, complete with an elongated home button cutout. We reported on it — albeit with a healthy bit of skepticism — in an earlier article. These photos became exhibit A in the speculation that the iPhone 5 would indeed feature an overhaul of its current from factor, which would include a 4″+ screen and radical changes to the home button — two iPhone 5 features that have received a lot of attention over the past year or so.

A new revelation today from HowToArena, however, purports to show a leaked component for the iPhone 5 that would suggest the home button will remain the standard, circular button featured on previous iPhone models.

According to AppleInsider, who has helped to perpetuate the story, “The “iPhone 5 Home Button Flex Cable Ribbon Circuit,” found by How To Arena, appears to indicate that the home button of the next-generation iPhone will have a similar shape and size as the one found on previous iPhone models.”

A mid-August photo of purported iPhone 5 screens with cutouts for elongated, multi-touch home buttons.

This new piece of evidence, albeit unconfirmed, supports the other end of speculation regarding the next iPhone: that it will retain the overall form factor and hardware characteristics of the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 News Blog‘s own source from within the consumer electronics accessories industry, who chooses to remain anonymous, has continuously confirmed that the next iPhone will indeed utilize the iPhone 4′s specs, which we have reported in earlier articles. Even as recently as today, he confirmed to us in an e-mail, “By the way, looks like it’s quite clear that what the new iPhone will look like. We are delighted that our old iPhone cases can continue to sell…”

To be sure, the photo of this purported home button component is an easy one to fabricate: you simply have to take an iPhone 4 and start telling people it’s actually from an iPhone 5. At the same time, it can be argued that a small part like this would be much easier to smuggle out of Foxconn or Pegatron than to take a relatively clear photo of staffers pumping out sheets of new iPhone 5 screens admist the draconian security that Apple’s components suppliers and assemblers are no doubt required to maintain.

At best, this new photo is a wash, and simply counters the earlier elongated home button/larger screen claims. It is by no means what we could call a “smoking gun” piece of iPhone 5 evidence.

By Michael Nace

Photo from 9to5Mac.com

A new, purported photo of iPhone 5 screen production at the Wintek facility reveals new iPhone screens with elongated, ovular cutouts for a possible multi-touch, multi-gesture home button. But Apple patents over the past few years show the desire to move away from the home button altogether.  

In the midst of a filed of very blurry, nondescript photos, complete with dithery, photoshopped wierdness, a set of remarkably clear, crisp photos of workers in what is purported to be Wintek’s iPhone touchscreen factory reveal sheets of what look to be larger-than-normal iPhone screens — complete with elongated cutouts for a possible multi-touch, multi-gesture home button.

Leading the way as usual on iPhone 5 rumordom is 9to5Mac, who, along with others, captioned the photo with “note the elongated gesture home button.”

The notion of an iPhone 5 with an multi-touch home button is not a completely never revelation to the rumor mill. Ever since the release of the iPhone 4, tech pundits have imagined Apple outfitting future iPhone iterations with either a multi-touch home button or a smart bezel, which would give users gestural control over functions like volume, app switching, and unlocking that currently are either relegated to hardware controls or altogether nonexistent on the iPhone device itself. Along with these rumors have also been the discussion of the iconic home button disappearing from the iPhone 5.

While there may be some excitement over the prospect of Apple revealing a multi-gestural home button on the iPhone 5, the Apple patents suggest that it is highly unlikely.

When researching Apple-related patent sites like Patently Apple, it becomes “patently” obvious that Apple’s long term direction for the iPhone when it comes to gesture and controls is to lose the home button and all other manual buttons and hardware for a next-generation smartphone that makes use of even more complex and nuanced gestures to control navigation. Aside from Apple’s landmark patent for the original home button, you’ll be hard-pressed to find patents that suggest the kind of elongated home button we’re seeing suggested in these new photos.

On the other hand, there are a slew of Apple patents filed in 2010 that suggest Apple has plans to introduce hidden controls and drop the physical home button in an attempt to create a sleek, button touch surface.

This story from SlashGear reveals a patent with no home button whatsoever. And along these same lines, Patently Apple produced a wonderful piece on Apple’s recent smart bezel patents and their viability on future iPhones.

In this way, it is safe to say that there is more likelihood of seeing smart bezels, hidden controls, and no home button in the iPhone’s future, rather than a multi-touch home button on the iPhone 5. And if it does come to pass that these new photos are accurate and the iPhone 5 will indeed feature a gestural home button, it would seem to contradict what Cupertino has been developing over the past couple years in terms of next-generation controls and navigation for the iPhone.
By Michael Nace