More Leaked Images Hint iPhone 8 Will Feature Rear Touch ID

There’s been a major lack of consensus on whether Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 will feature an OLED display-embedded, or a rear-mounted, Touch ID sensor similar to the configuration on Samsung’s new Galaxy S8/S8+ duo, and several other high-end Android smartphones.

Several reports have lent credence to either outcome being possible, such as reports of lower-than-expected manufacturing yields preventing Apple from bringing under-the-glass Touch ID to market this year, and others suggesting that Apple will definitely be implementing glass-embedded Touch ID on the iPhone 8 — and there’s prototypes already being tested in the wild to back that up.

A trove of leaked images that appeared this morning on Chinese website, iPhoneros, suggest that Apple has [at the least] been floating an iPhone 8 model featuring rear-mounted Touch ID in the wild. While their legitimacy remains uncertain, with iPhoneros citing that the images came from “reliable sources” in China who “never sent us false information,” they actually provide us with one of the clearest glimpses of an iPhone 8 prototype we’ve ever seen.

The images appear to show an iPhone-styled device, featuring what looks like a sensor pad for Touch ID plastered on the rear-center of the device’s chassis — conveniently, or inconveniently, located just below the Apple logo. The rear side of the handset also flaunts the iPhone 8’s vertically-oriented dual-lens camera system — a bizarre, but nevertheless strategic and beneficial design change, which will supposedly optimize the quality of photos when they’re captured in landscape mode.

Revelations of both vertically-oriented optics and a rear-mounted Touch ID configuration on iPhone 8 would nevertheless coincide with an exclusive report on the device’s new functional and material design, which was shared with iDrop News back in March by iPhone concept artist, Benjamin Geskin. At the time, Geskin also revealed that Apple’s highly-anticipated iPhone 8 device could actually be called the iPhone Edition, according to supply chain sources with knowledge of Apple’s plans.

As far as the front of the device is pertinent, it’s almost entirely amassed by an edge-to-edge display, and features very narrow bezels on either side, as well as a small hump on the top and bottom of the handset. Like we said, though, the legitimacy of these images can’t be determined right now; and while they may align nicely with Geskin’s original leaks, there’s still a strong chance that Apple could find a way to get Touch ID under the glass — and we’ll continue hoping for such an outcome.

Would you still buy an iPhone 8 if it shipped with a rear-mounted Touch ID sensor?
Let us know in the comments!

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]