Noted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, known for his often-accurate reports on upcoming Apple products in the past has found evidence that the finger print scanner is coming to the iPhone 5S with a convex sapphire home button that will accommodate the highly anticipated finger print scanner.
A report found by 9to5mac says Kuo expects the iPhone 5S to have the home reader button come in sapphire rather than its current plastic state and, rather than dip into the device in a concave shape, it will protrude outwardly a little bit at a convex angle. The idea is that this will create space to house the finger print scanner.
"Convex home button creates space for fingerprint sensor; yield to improve. We think that a fingerprint sensor will be placed under the home button of iPhone 5S. However, assembling it could be difficult as the space under home button is limited as it already has to accommodate the Lightning connector, speaker and microphone. Thus, we think the shape of the home button could be changed from concave to convex to create more space for a fingerprint sensor," writes Kuo, via 9to5Mac. "Sapphire prevents home button from being scratched. A convex home button could be more easily scratched, so a harder material is required. We believe Apple will switch from plastic to sapphire, whose hardness is second only to diamond. Sapphire would protect the home button from being scratched and the fingerprint sensor from being damaged."
Sapphire components wouldn't be a new thing for iPhones as the current iPhone 5 features a sapphire lens cover for the rear-facing camera.
An iPhone fingerprint scanner is expected to be put on the next iPhone in order to provide additional security to the iPhone and allow users to verify beyond any doubt that the person trying to get access to the phone is its owner. This will help make the mobile device secure for more sensitive information like work-related e-mails or bank account passwords.
Previous estimates put the iPhone 6 as the device that would receive the fingerprint capabilities. However, coming fresh off the news that the iPhone 5S will likely be debuted on September 10, Kuo believes the finger print technology will be ready for the device sooner rather than later.
