The next iPhone will feature an all-screen bezel-less design and infrared facial recognition tech, according to two software developers who have delved into a pre-release version of the upcoming HomePod's firmware.

Whether intentionally or not, it seems Apple pushed out an early version of the HomePod's firmware. The HomePod will apparently run a version of iOS 11 when it's released this December, and thus the code contains mentions of other Apple devices that will also support iOS 11.

In this case, the HomePod firmware includes two new code names: D22 and PearlID, which developers Steve Troughton-Smith and Guilherme Rambo believe to be the code names for the next iPhone and the new facial recognition tech respectively. Additionally, the firmware contains dozens of strings and function names that are clearly connected to some kind of front-facing infrared face analysis tech: BKFaceDetectStateInfo , mouthFrown_L , com.apple.power.camera.frontInfrared.activeDuration , etc.

Rambo also discovered a new phone icon in the HomePod's firmware, which appears to represent an all-screen iPhone with a cut-out at the top—presumably for the aforementioned infrared camera, earpiece speaker, and any other sensors that won't work from behind the screen. The silhouette looks rather similar to the upcoming Essential Phone , the new project from former Android development lead Andy Rubin.

These leaks further muddy the waters on where the D22 iPhone might fit into the overall product stack. It certainly doesn't look like an iPhone 7S, but will it be an iPhone 8, iPhone X, or something else? And if so, will it be released this September as an expensive alternative to the putative iPhone 7S, or does Apple have different plans entirely?