iPhone 7 Specs And Features: With Fingerprint Scanner Display

Devices without a home button have largely been relegated to the Android family. But a recent patent filed by Apple may show the company is considering a future iPhone designed without a home button.
Biometrics company Sonavation announced Tuesday, its new technology, which incorporates special sensors underneath a Gorilla Glass display, which allows fingerprints to be read from a devices screen. The technology is intended to work with devices using Gorilla Glass 4, which is the latest iteration of display casing from Corning. Gorilla Glass 4 can currently be found on devices including the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, and is supposedly twice as strong as the previous version of Gorilla Glass.

What does this have to do with Apple or the iPhone? Tech blog Cult of Mac discovered in late June, a late 2013 patent from Apple, which details a technology similar to Sonavation’s. The USPTO patent for a “Fingerprint Biometric Sensor Including Drive Signal Level Updating,” describes a display with special “sensing pixels” that can collect fingerprint data from users. Pundits have connected the two technologies and inferred this could be a feature on an upcoming iPhone.
Currently, there is no indication that Apple is working with Sonavation. However, such a technology could be implemented on devices from any manufacturer. Smartphone makers including Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei and others have all used fingerprint sensors on their devices.
The most recent iPhones use Gorilla Glass 3, but there is no indication on whether Apple has plans to upgrade its devices to Gorilla Glass 4. But as smartphones become more of a commodity, many manufacturers are looking for new features to entice consumers.

The next iPhone is expected to launch in September; it could be called either the iPhone 6s or the iPhone 7. Recent rumors about features for the upcoming iPhone include updates to the device’s internal storage options and a use of a technology, which could allow the device to be solar powered through its display.