3 Secrets Apple’s HomePod Revealed About the iPhone 8

Apple is a company whose happenings have historically been shrouded in secrecy. Over the last decade, however, it’s become increasingly difficult for the tech-giant to maintain close-knit control over the details surrounding its best kept secrets. Consider the HomePod: while the ultra-premium device was shown off at WWDC earlier this summer, the company waited until earlier this week to release its first firmware code to developers. More interesting than the code itself was what savvy developers have been able to discover hidden deep within it — a trove of otherwise cryptic information that appears to lend credence to some of the most noteworthy aspects about the upcoming iPhone 8.

Just yesterday, iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith revealed a bevy of information about the iPhone 8, including a vector image depicting how the device will feature a design similar to what we’ve been reporting on for months now, as well as the presence of Apple's new ‘Face ID’ biometric security protocol. And the details discovered within the HomePod's code have only continued to trickle in. Continue reading to learn three secrets the HomePod revealed about the iPhone 8.

3 High-Resolution 5.8-inch OLED Display

Discovered this morning by Troughton-Smith, it was revealed that Apple’s upcoming flagship could feature a much higher resolution display than any iPhone model before. While the iPhone 7 Plus’ 5.5-inch LCD display boasts a 1080 x 1920 resolution at a modest 401 ppi, Troughton-Smith revealed in his latest Tweet that the Apple may be bumping the iPhone 8’s modestly larger, 5.8-inch OLED panel up to a pixel-dense 2436 x 1125 resolution.

While there appears to be a lack of consensus among developers in regards to what portion of the display will be active and touch-responsive, with some even expressing their belief that the resolution could actually be as high as 2800 x 1242, it’s worth noting that the HomePod’s code also mysteriously references a “3xRetina6.5Inch” display, which may or may not hint to the existence of an even larger iPhone model being in the works. (Worth noting is that Apple's iPhone 9, which is expected to debut in 2018, has been rumored to feature a much larger 6.46-inch OLED display, and so this part of the code could be a placeholder for that model.)

2 ‘Split-Screen’ and Tap-to-Wake

Based on his examination of the HomePod's code, Troughton-Smith also suggested that the iPhone 8 will likely feature a ‘split-screen’ design. Information such as battery life, cellular and other connectivity info that’s typically displayed in the top status bar, will be split into two distinct views (as shown above) — with one portion of the indicators occupying the area on either side of the iPhone 8’s front-facing earpiece and 3D facial recognition sensors.

He goes on to say that the new status bar appears “a lot more complex and powerful in design” than previously thought, and that it could even be user-interactive allowing the indicators to launch their respective Settings. Additionally, the developer discovered information hinting that the iPhone 8 may feature a “tap-to-wake” functionality, which could potentially allow users to double-tap the display as an alternative method of waking the device without pressing the Home button.

1 Virtual Home Button, No Sign of Touch ID

Speaking of Home buttons, Troughton-Smith discovered the mention of a so-called ‘Home Indicator’ buried deep within the HomePod's firmware, which leads him to believe that Apple will indeed be including a 'Virtual Home button' on the edge-to-edge OLED device. Troughton-Smith’s sentiments coincide with those of KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, who in his top seven iPhone 8 predictions likewise suggested that Apple will employ a Virtual Home button on the device.

According to Kuo, this Virtual Home button will not only be twice the size of Apple’s traditional iPhone Home buttons, but it will rest within the bottom-most portion of the display, which is believed to serve as a ‘Function Area’ where other vital settings and controls can be accessed. Meanwhile, Troughton-Smith also suggested he has “seen no indication” that the iPhone 8 will feature a display-embedded Touch ID solution, which leads him to believe that Apple has settled on his previously discovered ‘Face ID’ biometric facial recognition security.

What makes Troughton-Smith’s claims so viable is that Apple’s HomePod device will ship running a modified version of iOS 11, v11.0.2, and so the code that's essentially the basis for all these claims is in fact the same (or eerily similar) to the code that will run on future iPhone models sometime after iOS 11 launches later on this fall.