iPhone 5S home button's 'silver ring' may hold key to fingerprint sensing tech

A rumoured tweak to the iPhone 5S home button could be integral to the fingerprint sensing tech thought to be residing within the next-gen device.

Recent Apple rumours have suggested that the iconic iPhone Home button will be modified for the first time in order to include a 'silver ring' around the edge, but according to reports this weekend, the update is a lot more than just an aesthetic tweak. Apple Insider reckons the silver ring within the iPhone 5S's Home button is integral to the heavily tipped fingerprint sensing technology, allowing users to unlock their devices simply by touching the central button. After checking out recent Apple patent filings, the site says "the metallic ring may be a functional component necessary to the sensor's operation," rather than just a fancy design twist. The site cites previous iterations of the fingerprint sensing technology from theApple-owned AuthenTec company, used within the Japan-only Toshiba Regza T-O1D smartphone that also features a metallic ring around the sensor. According to AppleInsider the silver ring "acts as the electrode that drives the low frequency RF signal into the finger, which is attenuated by ridges and valleys in the print and finally captured by AC sensors as a high quality image." The company bought AuthenTec last year to power the security measure within its own devices, so it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest it will appear within the new iPhone 5S. Earlier thoughts surrounding the Home button tweak suggested it might as a measure to enable users to distinguish which iPhones had fingerprint sensors and which did not. The modifications are also expected to make the button convex, rather than concave, to enable the new security tool. The presence of a fingerprint sensor is likely to be one of the only major hardware changes to the iPhone 5S as the design is likely to remain very similar to the iPhone 5 handset. You can catch up with all the latest rumours surrounding the September 10 iPhone launch event in our video round up below.