A purported iPhone 8 schematic found its way online, and the leak seems to offer some of the same iPhone 8 design details we expect. However, there are some major differences compared to previous rumors, especially concerning the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and the rear camera.
Posted online on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, the schematic below reportedly comes from Foxconn.
As you can see, the schematic suggests the screen will take up most of the front side of the handset. But the home button complete with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor is located on the back, which isn’t in line with what most rumors have claimed so far. A research report from one analyst earlier this week did say that Apple is facing manufacturing issues with a Touch ID sensor embedded in the display, so one solution to fix that problem would be to move the sensor to the back of the handset.
The rear camera has two lenses, just as expected. But they’re positioned vertically along the left side of the phone, rather than horizontally like the iPhone 7 Plus. It looks… terrible. Measurements for the phone are also included in this hopefully-fake leak. The iPhone 8 will seemingly be 149mm tall, 72.5mm wide and 7.1mm thin. For comparison, the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 measures 138 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm.
If the leak really does show an iPhone 8 design from Apple, it might not be the final choice for the company. 9to5Mac explains that we’re looking at an EVT 03 design, which is short for Engineering Validation Test third revision. EVT represents an early stage of a product’s design, and the device must still pass through a Device Validation Test and Production Validation Test before it’s finalized.
This iPhone 8 prototype may be one of the many ideas Apple is toying with, and a version that will may help the company deal with a scenario in which it won’t be able to come up with a viable Touch ID sensor for the screen in time for the iPhone 8’s launch.
What’s interesting about the schematic is that it tells the same story that a leak from a few weeks ago offered, when it comes to rear camera shape and Touch ID sensor location. At the time we questioned that rumor, as it seemed to contradict basically every iPhone 8 report coming from trustworthy sources with proven track records.
