“When Apple launches its next-generation iPhone, the handset will likely carry a fingerprint sensor embedded into a slightly convex home button made out of sapphire, a major change to current designs,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.

“By using a convex home button instead of the familiar concave design, Apple will be able to make room for the much rumored fingerprint sensor without losing precious internal space, according to well-informed KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo,” Campbell reports. “In a research note obtained by AppleInsider, Kuo says Apple is using sapphire because of its resilience to scratches, which will thus protect the fingerprint sensor embedded within.”

Campbell reports, “Kuo predicts the sensor’s inclusion will keep the iPhone well ahead of competing Android and Windows Phone handsets, possible presaging Apple’s entry into secure mobile payments… Further, the analyst sees Apple’s current one-button iPhone design as being an optimal fit for a fingerprint reader. With a single home button, consumers are less likely to be confused as to where to place their finger for scanning.”

Read more in the full article here.

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