As attention turns to the products Apple has planned for release throughout 2021, The Wall Street Journal has joined the growing list of big names reporting that Apple’s next iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 13, will feature Face ID as well as in-screen Touch ID.
An iPhone with both Touch ID and Face ID has been rumored for quite some time, with Bloomberg most recently claiming Apple is planning to launch Touch ID and Face ID with its next iPhone later this year. Now, the WSJ has reported, citing an unnamed Apple employee, that the company is working with optical sensors for in-screen fingerprint reading, which “can be more reliable” than an ultrasonic solution.
Patents describing under-display Touch ID technology were discovered last year, showing Apple was working on a way to “capture a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) image of an object or user that is proximate to a device,” such as a fingerprint, detailing a “Through-Display Optical Transmission, Reception, or Sensing Through Micro-Optic Elements” method.
So far it is unknown if Touch ID would be limited to Apple’s “Pro” models or if the technology will be rolled out across its lineup.
Reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in 2019 that Apple was facing several technological challenges, including managing power consumption, the size and location of the sensing area, the thickness of the sensing module, and the production yield rate of the lamination process when considering bringing Touch ID back to the iPhone.