Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 will feature an “area modes” at the bottom of its edge-to-edge OLED screen, replacing home button of the current iPhone with Touch ID, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo, who has predicted several Apple product features in the past, presented the "function area" in detail as he mentions it on the bottom of the phone in a slide. The 5,8-inch iPhone is said to have a 5.15-inch OLED screen without a bezel.
The most obvious change to the OLED iPhone will be a full-screen design, along with the removal of the Home button that features the current technology fingerprint recognition. We expect the iPhone OLED to come with a 5.8 "natural OLED panel", but the real screen size will be around 5.15″. The remainder will be one space for functions (e.g. allocation of virtual keys).
The "function area" sounds a lot like the Touch Bar on Apple's new MacBook Pro. The Touch Bar displays your applications and presents various function keys for greater productivity. Kuo also said that this area will be for the distribution of virtual keys, but did not give further details.
Let's say JPMorgan's Rod Hall analyst (who is not as reliable as Kuo) said Apple would remove the Home TouchID button and replace it with a 3D laser scanner to identify the face.
The rumors of course will continue to come until the official launch of the iPhone 8, which is said to be wireless charging, and a body of glass only. Rumors also indicate a dramatic increase in battery capacity.
