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Purported iPhone 5 part suggests Apple won't change home button

An alleged fifth-generation iPhone part being sold by a Chinese website has cast doubt on rumors that the device will feature an expanded home button design.

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.

The part, currently selling for $6.68, is said to be compatible with “iPhone 5 (5th generation)” and it is described as a “high quality and original home button flex cable for iPhone 5, not include [sic] home button.”

Parts supplier China Better claims to also have access to volume button, speaker earpiece module, power button, mute switch, battery, audio jack, camera lens and proximity light sensor parts for Apple's next iPhone. The company's proximity sensor part appears identical to an alleged iPhone 5 part that surfaced on another Chinese site in August.

Some reports had suggested in the past that Apple may change the design of the home button by removing it altogether or replacing the physical button with a multi-touch version.

Third-party case designs and other unconfirmed images then implied that Apple will not remove the button, instead modifying its overall shape in order to accommodate a larger display and accommodate gesture-based controls.

Various purported parts of the upcoming iPhone model have been leaked recently, with some of the parts marked as N94 prototypes. References to the N94 code name, already spotted in Apple’s SDK in the past, were recently found inside iOS 5 beta 7, revealing that the company has been granted an FCC ID for at least one new iPhone model.

Numerous reports suggest that Apple will launch its next-gen iPhone in early to mid-October, but it is not yet clear how many new distinct iPhone models the company is set to unveil at its fall media event. Sources speculated in the past that Apple will introduce a cheaper, entry-level “iPhone 4S” this year, as well as a high-end “iPhone 5” version.



39 Comments

cvaldes1831 16 Years · 1832 comments

Unsurprising.

The circle is a better shape than an oval, at least in aesthetic terms. And we know how much Steve cares about aesthetics. An oval home button would have to feature considerably more functionality than an circular button, but that's not really feasible. And none of this "gesture swiping" B.S. If you need gestures, you'd do it on the touch panel screen, not on some tiny oval button.

This whole oval home button rumor is completely retarded.

suddenly newton 15 Years · 13819 comments

Dammit. I was hoping they would change it to an oval so the fandroids can point and say, "haha! apple needs to copy samsung because they are copyists and we knew it all along, haha!"

drumrobot 16 Years · 32 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by cvaldes1831

Unsurprising.

The circle is a better shape than an oval, at least in aesthetic terms. And we know how much Steve cares about aesthetics. An oval home button would have to feature considerably more functionality than an circular button, but that's not really feasible. And none of this "gesture swiping" B.S. If you need gestures, you'd do it on the touch panel screen, not on some tiny oval button.

This whole oval home button rumor is completely retarded.

100% agree. It's not like there's enough space on the home button (or even the entire bottom panel) for gestures, and it's nice to have a hardware button that can be used for force-restarts, screenshots, etc.

I'd say more, but you took the words right out of my mouth...

sflocal 17 Years · 6150 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

Dammit. I was hoping they would change it to an oval so the fandroids can point and say, "haha! apple needs to copy samsung because they are copyists and we knew it all along, haha!"

Uhm.... wouldn't it be more appropriate to label them "Samdroids"???

simtub 15 Years · 277 comments

As long as the button does bust up after 6 months of heavy use then I'm fine with the existing round shape.