Apple’s next iPhone will have a Touch ID button − on its side

Apple’s next iPhone will have something no other iPhone has had before − drum roll, please − a side-mounted Touch ID button.

That’s according to the respected TFI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, who released a new research note this week.

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The note, which was obtained by MacRumors, says that Apple will release a new iPhone model during the first half of 2020, and that it will be equipped with a side-mounted, capacitive Touch ID power button with a “new design”.

Cue ooohs and aaahs. Since the button will apparently sit within the phone’s frame, it’s probably safe to assume that it will be smaller than the Touch ID button of old − unless, of course, the phone itself turns out to be quite thick.

The handset will also feature an LCD display, Kuo says. That tallies nicely with the stream of rumours we’ve seen over recent months, which have painted a picture of a cheaper iPhone − a spiritual successor to the much-loved iPhone SE, if you will.

The original iPhone SE was announced all the way back in March 2016, and was available for £379 at launch. Unfortunately, with phone prices rising all the time, it’s highly unlikely that the price of Apple’s upcoming model will even be in the same ballpark as that.

Since its Touch ID button will be side-mounted, rather than placed below the screen, Kuo says the iPhone”s display will stretch almost from edge to edge.

What’s more, because Apple’s next iPhone won’t feature Face ID, it’s also tempting to speculate that it will either have a smaller notch than recent models, or no notch at all. But let’s not get our hopes up yet.

As yet, it isn’t clear how big this model’s screen will be or, indeed, what it will be called. The iPhone SE 2? The iPhone 9?

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We shouldn’t have too much longer to wait, as Apple is expected to launch the device before July.

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