Apple iPhone 5S Specs And Features: Sapphire Crystal Tocuh Sensitive Home Button

We all remember the first iPhone device that came out in 2007 and we are all thinking about what could the iPhone 5S features might be. Apple’s Nasdaq: AAPL as it’s code name used to be, has been the first of its kind to wear the button on the front as a sign of Apple’s trademark design.

Recently, we stumbled over some chatters in which the rumor is that Apple is about to lose its trademark button and replace it with a Sapphire crystal home button with an incorporated fingerprint sensor with the release of the iPhone 5S. And, we’re expecting to see this starting with the upcoming iPhone 5S.

Related to the latter information, the TechNews, a Taiwanese publication posted a report from the Cult of Mac, according to which, Apple could be using a new home button with the release of the iPhone 5S, more exactly a sapphire crystal sensitive to touch button on their next iPhone model.

As Apple claims, the only thing more durable  than the sapphire crystal is the diamond, and they’re implementing this new material in order to prevent scratching and thus to protect the fingerprint sensor more. However, this isn’t the first time Apple uses this material considering that they used it before in the iPhone’s 5 back camera, which has sapphire crystal lens.

On the iPhone 5′s website Apple mentions that the surface of the iSight camera isn’t made of glass. Moreover, it is sapphire crystal a material known for its hardness, this characteristic being outmatched only by the diamond hardness. As you can guess, the camera of the iPhone 5 isn’t at all easy to scratch and we hope it will be also the case for the iPhone 5S.

According to a leaked info from a supply chain in Taiwan, it seems that Apple’s current home button isn’t so resistant, and after a long period of usage, it can easily malfunction. The iPhone giant has found a solution to that issue already, and it is possibly for them to replace the tradition button with a touch sensitive zone, that could have the same functions as the old button.

While creating new opportunities for Apple and facilitating credit card payments, the technology used in the fingerprint sensor is probably going to be the most popular feature of Apple’s iPhone 5S.

MacWorld, a publication in UK posted recently an interview with PayPal’s chief information security officer, Michael Barrett which stated among others, that the upcoming iPhone could include a more secure authentication method based on the fingerprint, a method which could become more secure than the actual system of passwords, which tends to be failing in some areas.

Barrett also said that by the end of this year, Apple isn’t going to be the only phone manufacturer to have a fingerprint sensor built in in one of their devices, and that rumors about that seem to be on the roof already.

As a president of the FIDO Alliance, one  of the organizations which promote the replacement of the password system with an open protocol supported by the actual technology and industries, Barrett also mentions that his alliance provides users with the possibility to register themselves while  giving  control to providers that could make the authentication process more transparent and thus limiting the risks of fraud.

FIDO Alliance users will receive a small device such as a token or an authenticator which can be incorporated in their mobile devices. As mentioned before, this token could be a fingerprint scanner, a voice reader, a USB memory drive with password, and so on.

A recent report from the iDownloadBlog mentions that the rumors are not far from being true. And it’s pretty logic too, because if Apple manages to integrate  the fingerprint sensor in the home button, making it touch sensitive, than protecting it with a harder material is the best choice.

So far, Apple didn’t comment anything related to these rumors. Another thing we worry about is how this technology and the use of the sapphire crystal is going to influence the price of the new iPhone device. Other related rumors claim that the production of iPhone 5S has begun and positioned the release date, in the third quarter of 2013.