iPhone 13 will ‘likely’ feature in-screen Touch ID, claims analyst
Barclays Research analyst Andrew Gardiner has published a new research note claiming that in-screen Touch ID is “likely” to come to the iPhone 13, which Apple is expected to announce later this year.
Rumors have long suggested Apple may bring Touch ID back to the iPhone after the technology was replaced by Face ID starting in 2017. The Wall Street Journal recently joined the growing list of big names reporting that Apple’s next iPhone could feature under-screen Touch ID, which would allow a user to place their finger on the device’s display, for it to be scanned to unlock the device.
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.
Gardiner’s note, via MacRumors, cites the new technology as the “security feature of the future,” also suggesting that the device will have a reduced TrueDepth camera system, most commonly known as the notch, with components being “more tightly integrated.”
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.