iPhone 5S has a "Figerprint Scanning Home Button" called 'Touch ID' Sensor

Apple’s big day is finally here. But when the new iPhone 5S is announced later today, there may not be many surprises.

Ahead of Apple's official reveal of the iPhone 5S, a supposed manual for the phone has leaked at Nowwhereelse.fr.

This manual shows Apple's new iPhone has a different home button with a silver ring. The home button is labeled as a "Touch ID," which would presumably be Apple's new fingerprint scanning technology.

A fingerprint sensor has been expected as part of the iPhone 5S for most of the summer after documentation in Apple’s new iOS 7 beta operating system showed support for biometric authentication.

Other new features expected in the iPhone 5S are a dual flash for an upgraded camera, a better computer processor and a version with gold (or gold colored) casing. A bigger and longer last battery could also be a distinct possibility. The screen size or the overall size of the iPhone 5S is not expected to be any bigger, staying at the 4-inches form factor that was introduced in last year’s iPhone 5S.

A fingerprint scanner could give the new iPhone a unique feature that most other competitor’s smartphones do not employ. The scanner would be use to authenticate a user instead of using a password to unlock the device.

How does it do it?

A type of image capture system specialised for quickly capturing and storing the imprint of your finger will be embedded below a swipe panel – in this case possibly below the home button on the iPhone 5S – which the user runs their finger over. The sensor captures the image and software analyses it for the skin indentation pattern on your fingertip, comparing it to a set of pre-stored data and verifying your identity. According to a recent patent filed by Apple in Europe, the sensor will implement an RF sensing system that will not only accurately capture the ridges of your finger, but also image the live skin below the surface of your fingertip to prevent spoofing of the system with a Mission Impossible-style fake fingerprint.

What will it enable?

Potentially, fingerprint readers could sound the death knell for passwords. The multi-character password is a failing piece of security, given that pretty much any password can be cracked by high-powered computers these days, regardless of how long or complex it is. Two-factor authentication, where another piece of the security puzzle, such as a secret code or key, is used to strengthen simple password logins is currently the best system on offer to consumers.

In theory, fingerprint scanners could allow users to completely remove the need for passwords, securely logging into their phones, and enabling higher security functions, which would be particularly useful for online banking and shopping without the need for two-factor authentication.

In a commercial setting, a built-in fingerprint scanner could make the iPhone more enterprise-ready, although in reality, according to Matthew Finnie, CTO at Interoute, the owner operator of Europe's largest cloud services platform, "the smartphone is now intrinsic to how people work, so it's time for businesses to change".

"Rather than focusing on the security merits and nuances of the devices, attention should shift to how businesses should secure and control corporate data and make relevant parts securely accessible from anything, anywhere."

Source : theguardian.com, readwrite.com,businessinsider.in