Apple seemingly confirms iPhone 8 design, face unlock feature

Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017

The image is referencing a device codenamed “D22”. Is this the real codename for the iPhone 8 or is Apple just bamboozling us? It's hard to tell, although it doesn't seem likely that the company would go to such lengths (leaking an early firmware for an upcoming product, leaving fake clues in the code, etc.) to just troll its devoted fanbase.

The other find comes from developer Steve Troughton-Smith, who stumbled upon a line of code in the leaked HomePod firmware supposedly referencing Apple's new facial recognition software. As you may already know, a growing number of leaks suggest that the iPhone 8 may not feature a fingerprint scanner and may rely on other types of biometric data—i.e. your face and/or eyes—as a means to authenticate its owner. But even if it does feature a fingerprint scanner, the iPhone 8 will most likely also employ other means for biometric authentication on the side.

I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ

— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017

What Troughton-Smith found was a number of lines in the HomePod firmware that reference “BKFaceDetect” (where “BK” is speculated to be an abbreviation of “Biometric Kit”) and “Pearl ID”, which is supposedly a reference to Apple's new facial recognition tech. Whether that's just another codename or the final name of the feature remains unknown. It is speculated that the face ID feature will rely on an IR sensor and an IR camera situated on the top "bezel" of the device that will allow the phone to detect faces even in complete darkness.

For more on the iPhone 8, don't forget to check out these stories:

sources: Steve Troughton-Smith, Guilherme Rambo