Users will allegedly press the home button once to let the joystick bulge out, and again to retract it

Jan 26, 2015 14:20 GMT  ·  By

If you want to get your fix in Apple rumors, there’s no requirement on the type of publication you could visit. Just don’t expect some of them to pan out exactly as described. Like this ridiculous rumor about the iPhone 7 sporting a joystick behind its home button, for instance.

Christiantoday.com is probably the last place you’ll look for iPhone news, but apparently they'll resort to anything to fix a slow news day.

Joystick just pops up, they say

Allegedly picked up from the UK’s Daily Mail (where we couldn’t find any iPhone headlines on a one-mile scroll), this tidbit reads as follows:

“Based on the new speculations about the upcoming smartphone product from the Cupertino tech giant, the said joystick will pop out each time the user clicks the home button with just a single click and it will revert to its original state once again in an instant.”

Far-fetched, to say the least. Gaming is one of the most popular activities on the iPhone, and games are indeed the most popular app category on the iTunes Store. Furthermore, gamers tend to prefer physical buttons instead of touch controls, or at least in addition to touch controls, for a more compelling experience.

However, if this were somehow true, Apple would probably test the waters by implementing this feature on its iPod touch player, and certainly not in the hottest selling product in the company’s portfolio.

Another problem with this claim (which is almost certainly made up) is that there aren’t any sources or even patent applications to back it. Furthermore, if pressing the home button would always result in this so-called joystick bulging out, we can’t imagine the non-gamer population being too happy about it.

Too early for iPhone 7 rumors

To further burst your bubble and bring you back to planet Earth, we'd also like to point out that there's very little chance for the iPhone 7 to launch any time soon.

Even if the iPhone 6S is indeed scheduled to roll out earlier than usual this year (another rumor that seems unlikely to materialize), it's still too early to know what the iPhone 7 will look like. Especially with the report also stating that iPhone 7 is rumored to have "a direct link" with the Apple Watch, which is something all iPhones will be capable of, including current-generation models.