The next iPhone, the iPhone 7, hasn't even been officially announced yet (although there are plenty of rumors), but already, people are starting to gossip about the iPhone that will come two years after that, in 2018. The first rumor for what could be called the iPhone 8 is fittingly futuristic: Instead of unlocking your phone with your finger, you might use an eye scanner.
But let's be real for a second. The rumor itself, published by DigiTimes, has no substantiation. And this is a rumor about a phone that is roughly two years away from its potential release date. So, take the idea with a big grain of salt.
However, it's not a completely far-fetched concept. In 2015, Italian company D-Eye created an iPhone eye-scanning accessory for use by medical professionals, and rumors about Apple introducing iris scanning date back to 2014. Apple rumor site MacRumors speculated that the company's interest in biometrics, as evidenced by its purchase of fingerprint software company, AuthenTec, and introduction of Touch ID with the iPhone 5s, could lead to eye-scanning software in the future.
Hypothetically, this technology could be built into your phone's camera. Existing iris-scanning technologies, which have been used everywhere from Equinox to Albany International Airport, essentially work by capturing photos of your eye. On its site, eye-scanning software company Iris ID explains that these photos detect patterns between your pupil and the white portion of your eye. The unique pattern is then stored in devices for future recognition.
Yes, it sounds like something straight out of a Mission: Impossible movie. But hey, we never thought Back to the Future-inspired self-lacing sneakers would exist, and well, here they are. Just don't put too much stock in an iPhone rumor that's way more than a year away from reality.
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