One of the most notable new features of the iPhone 7 was its reinvented home button that was completely unlike any of its predecessors. While those from the previous models were purely mechanical, the iPhone 7's home button makes use of a static button that when applied pressure to, would trigger haptic feedback through Apple's Taptic Engine.
While this is not as smooth as the trackpad on the MacBook, this new feature reveals much more than what it currently offers to its users. BGR reports that in the event that the iPhone 7's home button malfunctions, Apple offers a clever remedy that would allow users to operate their devices until they get them repaired.
A photo has surfaced online which shows a photo wherein a virtual home button appears when the software which is in charge of the functionality of the home button does not work out as planned. This corroborates perfectly with rumors that Apple might completely remove the home button when the iPhone 8 comes out, so some have taken what has been revealed as a sort of preview about what Apple has in store for all.
Rumors had revealed that the next iPhone would sport a design that no other phone ever had before wherein the entire front face of the device is a touch screen display. After ditching the headset jack, it has also been rumored that the home button, earpiece, light sensor and camera will all be embedded beneath the display itself.
If this seems to far from reality, it is to be noted that Apple had recently patented a technology for embedding light sensors directly onto a touch screen display. This will be done in such a way that the functionality of the screen or the sensor itself will not be affected.
Fortune says that the iPhone 7's virtual home button turns on automatically if something goes wrong with the physical button of the device. A picture that has been making the rounds online shows an iPhone 7 with the said virtual display and a warning which says that "Home Button may need service, onscreen Home Button could be used in the meantime." In the earlier iPhone models, a user would have to activate the Assistive Touch feature manually in the settings.
