iPhone 8 Sans Physical Home Button To Feature New Siri Activation Option?

New details about Apple’s iPhone 8 surfaced over the weekend, and they appear to suggest that the device could come with a new feature designed to activate Siri in the absence of the physical Home button.

As per earlier reports, iPhone 8 is going to launch sans a physical Home button due to its all-screen design. Now because the device is unlikely to sport a physical key on its front, consumers are left with no other option than to activate Apple’s voice assistant using the “Hey Siri” voice command. For those who do not like resorting to the voice command to wake Siri, Apple could be preparing a new alternative.

iOS developer Guilherme Rambo has once again leaked a new feature that could debut with the 10th anniversary iPhone. This feature will reportedly enable users to activate Siri by holding down the Sleep/Wake button of the handset. Rambo revealed this discovery when one of his Twitter followers asked about a code that could be hinting at the migration of certain Home button functions into the lock or Sleep/Wake button.

In a tweet, Rambo said that he did “find a gesture to invoke Siri by holding the lock button.” However, he did not specify as to what this code is. It is important to note though that iHelp BR found out last month from the HomePod firmware that the Sleep/Wake button on Apple’s first OLED iPhone has the ability to change functions depending on the app that is running. While this does not directly prove that the iPhone 8 could indeed come with a new Siri activation feature, it gives precedent to the idea that the Sleep/Wake button will have new functions.

Aside from the rumored Siri activation feature, the removal of the physical Home button on the iPhone 8 has also reportedly affected the implementation of the Touch ID fingerprint-reading technology. MacRumors said that the facial recognition technology that’s speculated to be part of the upgraded handset could be replacing Touch ID. But nothing’s been set in stone so far, and it is still unknown how Apple wants to remap the functions of the physical Home button in its absence.

The news about the possible new Siri activation feature comes around the same time as the confirmation from a South Korean supplier for Apple that the iPhone 8 will most likely debut in November. Apparently, the delay is said to be due to a number of factors including the fact that Apple only managed to finalize the official specs of the next flagship phone just last week.

Apple has already sent out invites for a Sept. 12 press event. It is during this event that the company is expected to take the wraps off of the highly anticipated iPhone 8 and the two yearly upgrades, the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus. There’s also reason to believe that Apple is introducing the Apple Series 3 smartwatch and the new Apple TV digital media player at the media presentation. While the new wearable is expected to have LTE support, the fifth-generation Apple TV is rumored to have support for 4K and HDR.