The iPhone 8 may still be a long time away, but consistent leaks and rumors from reliable sources have kept the excitement at peak. Now enough is known about the 10th anniversary iPhone for concept designers to start imagining what the real thing could look like. Graphic designer AlHasan Husni has come up with an interesting concept that shows off the rumored ‘function area.’
iPhone 8 concept: The function area houses the fingerprint scanner
The mockup has no bezels on the sides as the edges of the display are curved slightly. The top bezel, which houses the earpiece, has also become thinner. What steals the show is the ‘function area’ at the bottom of the display. KGI Securities predicts that the iPhone 8 would feature a 5.8-inch OLED display, of which only 5.15-inch will be the actual display. The remaining space at the bottom would house a dynamic function area that would offer controls based on whatever apps are on the screen.
Instead of calling it a function area, AlHasan Husni has named it a “virtual Home bar with haptic feedback.” It replaces the physical home button. In Husni’s concept, it appears as a black bar at the bottom of the display when the iPhone 8 is unlocked. The virtual function area shows the ‘Unlock with Touch ID” prompt when you are on the lock screen. The iPhone 8 is rumored to feature a facial recognition system besides the usual Touch ID scanner.
Function area offers novel possibilities
If the function area on the actual iPhone 8 turns out to be anything like the one in AlHasan Husni’s concept, it would make the 10th anniversary iPhone look even more beautiful. Users can pull up multitasking by swiping right on the function bar. A swipe up brings up the Control Center. There are endless possibilities regarding what could be achieved with the function area.
AlHasan Husni also imagines the much-awaited Dark Mode on the iPhone. The concept shows what a system-wide dark mode could look like, including in apps such as Music, Settings, Instagram, and Control Center. With Theater Mode out of the way, users expect Apple to bring a dark mode to the iPhone. An iOS 11 concept earlier this week also imagined the dark mode, along with other expected features like group FaceTime video calling.
iPhone 8 launch could be pushed back
The iPhone 8 is rumored to be announced with the 4.7-inch iPhone 7S and 5.5-inch iPhone 7S Plus in September. But unlike the other two, it may not hit the store shelves until November. Some innovative components intended for the iPhone 8 such as Apple’s custom in-display fingerprint sensor and the front 3D camera system might not be ready for September launch.
According to iGeneration, the front 3D camera sensor would be supplied by STMicroelectronics. The new 3D camera would play a major role in the facial recognition system. However, ramping up mass production of the sensor would take time. It corroborates with another report from Mac Otakara, which claimed that the iPhone 8 would launch much later than the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus.
