Apple iPhone 5S Rumors: Release Date Coming Without Fingerprint Scanner In The Home Button?

The "S" in the rumored "iPhone 5S," many suggest, stands for "security," which is said to be the centerpiece of Apple's seventh-generation smartphone. While the iPhone 5S will reportedly look identical to its predecessor, the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5S is believed to release with a fingerprint sensor embedded directly in the iPhone's single, signature home button, which will allegedly help users easily authenticate their identities to securely access their phone.

Apple fans are looking forward to the iPhone 5S with its release date expected to arrive this fall alongside the release of iOS 7, but a new report shedding light on alleged iPhone 5S parts says there are no signs of a fingerprint scanner.

Sonny Dickson of 9to5Mac, who has an impeccable record with leaking iOS devices (he leaked photos of the iPad mini before its release date last year), leaked various parts of the iPhone 5S, including the iPhone 5S SIM card tray, its loud-speaker button, the various flexes for the connector, vibrator, WiFi, speaker and camera, as well as the flex for the home button. But looking at these parts, blogger Sushil Goyal could not find any evidence of the alleged fingerprint sensor, which is reportedly the key selling point of the iPhone 5S.

The fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S has been a source of great intrigue among those chasing rumors of the phone. While issues with manufacturing the fingerprint sensor may delay the eventual release date of the iPhone 5S, people combing through alleged leaks of the phone have yet to find the 3mm Smart Sensor from Florida-based AuthenTec, which Apple urgently acquired last July.

AuthenTec's Smart Sensor, which was announced last May, crams a 500 ppi, 192x8 pixel detection matrix and all the fingerprint matching technology necessary to accurately and securely detect and encrypt data about your finger into a fingerprint sensor that's only about a millimeter thick. But while many believe the fingerprint sensor will appear in the home button of the iPhone 5S, some believe AuthenTec's fingerprint sensor technology has actually been applied to the phone's display, which would let iPhone 5S users authenticate themselves simply by touching anywhere on its 4-inch display.

The application of AuthenTec's fingerprint technology to the screen rather than the home button isn't just possible, it's also likely: AuthenTec's technology is so smart, it can differentiate your fingers so as to associate different functions with those fingers. For example, you can use different fingers to play music, or ask for directions, or call a particular contact. If Apple wanted to get fancy with the iPhone 5S, it could assign various functions to various fingers; at the end of the day, however, we believe Apple would be taking an unnecessary risk with an otherwise useful security technology, which is why we still expect Apple to release the iPhone 5S with the fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button, even if those "alleged leaks" couldn't locate the sensor.

iPhone 5S Release Date Coming: Other Features To Expect

In late June, Apple rumors site MacRumors posted alleged photos of the iPhone 5S that lined up with previously leaked photos, which further illustrated the differences between the iPhone 5 and this year’s iPhone 5 successor in terms of specs and components. MacRumors’ photo depicted a nameless Apple-built CPU, which, upon further investigation of its chip model number, looks to be a new A7 chip rather than a modification of the A6 chip currently featured in the iPhone 5.

Comparing other specs between the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5S logic board is slightly narrower than the iPhone 5’s logic board to make room for new components and connectors. The 5.45 Whr lithium-ion polymer battery in the iPhone 5 also looks to be upgraded to a 3.8-volt battery with a capacity of 5.92 Whr.

Besides these improved specs and the fingerprint sensor, it looks like the second biggest feature of this year's iPhone release will be its newly-improved camera. Whereas the iPhone 5 featured an 8-megapixel camera with a singular circular flash module, rumors point to a new 12-megapixel rear side camera, and photos of the iPhone 5S also reveal a new pill-shaped dual-LED flash. Both of these new camera features may be key to the inclusion of a new feature called "Mogul," which was discovered in the beta code for iOS 7. But since the new "Mogul" feature won't activate on the iPhone 5 due to "unsupported hardware," it looks like Mogul will be an exclusive feature of the iPhone 5S in the same way Siri was previously exclusive to the iPhone 4S.

But what does Mogul do? According to “analysis and testing of the code,” 9to5Mac discovered that Mogul will allow the iPhone 5S to capture video at “an exceptionally fast and precise rate,” indicating a potential recording rate of 120 frames-per-second. With such a fast frame rate, it seems like the Mogul feature in the iPhone 5S will support slow-motion video, since slow-motion effects require frames to be captured at a fast rate, which then appear slowed down when the video is replayed at a standard speed -- the video above depicts how the final product may look, using the 120 FPS video recording feature from the Samsung Galaxy Camera. With a presumably enhanced camera – the iPhone hasn’t received a camera upgrade since the iPhone 4S – this additional Mogul feature should give the iPhone 5S the “cool factor” it desperately needs.

Apple iPhone 5S: When's The Release Date?

Now that you have an idea of what Apple is planning to release regarding the iPhone 5S, many want to know when the phone's release date will arrive. Given the timetable for iOS 7, we fully expect to see Apple's big iPhone launch coincide with the release date schedule of iOS 7 -- specifically in mid-September.

Last year, the release date of iOS 6 arrived exactly 100 days after its June 11 unveiling, on Wednesday, Sept. 19; the iPhone 5 saw its release date two days later, on Friday, Sept. 21. We believe Apple will again release its newest iOS 100 days after its June 10 unveiling on Wednesday, Sept. 18, but seeing how Apple wouldn’t release iOS 7 without some new hardware to along go with it, we fully expect Apple has already set the release date for the iPhone 5S just two days after iOS arrives, on Friday, Sept. 20.

What do you think of the iPhone 5S? Does the fingerprint sensor appeal to you at all? Do you plan on purchasing an iPhone 5S when it sees its release date later this year? Sound off in the comments section below.

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