Following the recent news that the upcoming Apple HomePod speaker code all but confirmed the existence of facial recognition and a bezel-less design for the iPhone 8, developer Steve Troughton-Smith has uncovered more information relating to Touch ID.

After spending more time being able to dive into the code, Troughton-Smith has found no evidence to suggest Apple's premium iPhone will feature an embedded Touch ID sensor in the display. It means the iPhone 8 will likely use facial recognition as the only means of security and payment authentication, which marries up with a previous suggestion from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

He does say that there could still be a home button, which is called "Home Indicator" in the code, which will just be a virtual button possibly in a multi-function area of the screen. A virtual button could still be used to exit apps, but just not have Touch ID authentication capabilities.

Troughton-Smith has also found reference to "split" options for the status bar at the top of the screen. The iPhone 8 is expected to have a large cut-out area to house the speaker, camera and 3D sensing facial recognition hardware. The split options therefore likely refer to the fact mobile signal, time, battery status and any other icons such as Bluetooth will be split up and displayed either side of this cut-out area.

While it's still not entirely clear what Apple has planned for the iPhone 8, the leaked details from the HomePod code reveal that it will be a more complex device than we're used to, and a genuine change from the current iPhone lineup. We expect the iPhone 8 to be unveiled alongside the iPhone 7s duo in September, but it won't be on shelves until late October or early November.