Tech Brief: RIP Home Button (2007-2018)

Apple drove the final nail in home button's coffin today, officially removing the feature in favour of Face ID for its refreshed iPad lineup announced today. The once ubiquitous feature started its journey way back in 2007 with the introduction of iPhone, serving the most important function of navigating back to the home screen. But over time, the circular hardware button bore the weight of several critical features, including but not limited to multitasking (double-clicking), accessing Siri (holding down), fingerprint authentication (Touch ID), Reachability (double-tapping) and dismissing Control Center (if open, with a single click). With the advent of the bezel-less era however, Apple formally began phasing out the home button in 2017, beginning with its premium iPhone X handset. Yet it kept the physical home buttons intact on the cheaper iPhone 8 models, partly to keep the production costs low. This year was the first time Apple launched three new iPhones XS, XS Max and XR all without the home button, and today's iPad Pro unveil all but seals its fate.

Here's everything from Apple's Brooklyn event:

• New iPad Pro with slim bezels sans notch, Face ID for authentication, USB Type C (no headphone jack, but will require one of Apple's USB-C to 3.5mm dongles - is this a sign that iPhone will switch to USB-C as well?), a new Apple Pencil (US$ 129) that can be charged wirelessly by simply magnetically attaching it to the iPad (this also makes your old Apple Pencil incompatible with the new iPad Pro), and an updated Smart Keyboard (US$ 179) that allows the iPad to be positioned at two different angles; says it has sold 400 million iPads to date.
• A refreshed Mac mini and a new MacBook Air with Retina display, Touch ID for secure login, 50% thinner bezels, two USB-C ports and 3.5mm headphone jack for US$ 1,199; active install base of all Macs hits100 million.
• Software: iOS 12.1 update with Group FaceTime (but restricted only to audio on iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus) eSIM support, new emojis, macOS 10.14.1, tvOS 12.1 and watchOS 5.1 with new watch faces, and an updated Shortcuts app options for weather forecasts, unit conversion and HomePod support.