The whispers and murmurs ahead of this year’s new iPhone reveal have converged on an all-new design, with a thin or invisible display border, similar to new designs from other manufacturers like Samsung.
Apple seems to have inadvertently leaked the shape of the new iPhone
Developers found this design in an early version of code for Apple’s HomePod speaker.
Some code, apparently prematurely dispatched by Apple, seems to confirm this.
This past weekend, multiple software developers claim to have downloaded an early version of firmware code — from Apple — for its forthcoming HomePod speaker, which is not expected to launch until the end of the year.
In that code, one developer, Steven Troughton-Smith, found references to a reportedly forthcoming new iPhone feature: Unlocking the phone with your face, as captured by an infrared camera.
Another developer, Guilherme Rambo, found this outline image of what seems to be the new iPhone, featuring a super-thin or invisible display border, called a bezel.
This matches other supposed leaks and rumors of what the next iPhone will look like, including a hairline-like strip at the top that could house an earpiece speaker and front-facing camera(s), and no home button on the front.
(One theory is that the face-unlocking infrared camera will replace the fingerprint reader to authenticate for things like Apple Pay. It’s also possible there’s a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone.)
Apple typically reveals new iPhones at a media event in early to mid September. This new iPhone is expected to be a particularly high-end device, possibly in short supply.
It’s not unheard of for Apple’s code to prematurely identify unannounced features, but including this graphic seems a rare gaffe. An Apple rep did not respond to Recode’s request for comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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