A source close to Apple’s Asian manufacturing and supply chain tells Mobile Marketing Watch today that improving mobile security means everything to Apple as it readies its next iPhone refresh.
While the source can’t confirm the inclusion of Near Field Communications technology on the refreshed handset, he does assert that published reports this week about the iPhone 5S delivering a finger sensor behind the home button are largely “in the ballpark” of being correct.
Rumors have swirled for months that Apple would bolster its mobile security attributes on the iPhone in response to the company’s high-profile acquisition of AuthenTec. If the iPhone 5S delivers the purported finger sensor behind the home button, it would be a “groundbreaking” achievement for contemporary smartphone security and one that Android and Windows devices will be forced to play catch-up with in short order
Although the source believes that the iPhone 5S may not enter production as early as March (which is the latest industry-wide rumor), he alleges that the next generation iPhone will all but certainly be released well in advance of summer.
