iPhone 8 Design Leaks and Apple Has Itself to Blame

WWJD: What Would Jobs Do?

Apple, the maker of the device in your hand.
WikiCommons

Image via Pixabay

Apple, the maker of the device in your hand.

All our beautiful faces may soon be used to unlock our equally beautiful iPhones. Thanks to the latest leak ahead of the hotly anticipated new fleet of iPhones, the chances of at least one of the latest Apple must-haves boasting a face unlock feature are starting to look pretty damn good. Ironically, this particular leak reportedly comes straight from Apple.

I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ

— Steve Troughton-Smith (Archived) (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017

Apple fucked up and pushed the HomePod firmware out over the weekend, the Vergereported Sunday. Naturally, Steven Troughton-Smith and other developers have been digging into the code for items of note. Multiple lines of code mention a BKFaceDetect—BK likely meaning Biometric Kit—and an infrared camera, which many are speculating would be used for face detection in low-light situations.

The infrared is so the Face Unlock on the iPhone 8 can work in the dark/at night. Our earlier story detailing it https://t.co/SRLBsHoiij

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) July 31, 2017

There's also more rumor fuel tucked into the code regarding the much-discussed high-end model, possibly called the iPhone 8. Specifically, there's an image showing what most definitely looks like an iPhone with an almost completely edge-to-edge screen:

Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017

As for the veracity of these reports, Troughton-Smith vouched for them Sunday night as "1000 % real." 

Though the hype ahead of any given Apple unveiling is always palpable, this year's September event is particularly noteworthy due to 2017 marking the 10th anniversary of the very first iPhone's pubic debut. Apple CEO Tim Cook marked the occasion with a clever Steve Jobs reference in his tweeted tribute to the device that "changed the world."

Here's to the #iPhone that changed the world, to the man who dreamed it & the people at Apple who have never stopped looking to its future. pic.twitter.com/kw3Ifx0qmi

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 29, 2017

Latest in Life