In-Display Touch ID
We’ve been hearing rumours for years that Apple has been hard at work on in-display Touch ID technology, from the days even before Face ID came along in the 2017 iPhone X, so it’s easy to shrug off yet another report that it’s coming to this year’s iPhone, except for the fact that this time we’re hearing it from much more reliable sources.
Specifically, in the same report where he predicted the “iPhone 12S” name, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also added that in-display Touch ID would be the marquee feature of this year’s iPhone model, and Gurman’s information was also backed up by the Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern.
If the “iPhone 12S” name is true, this would also make for an interesting parallel to the iPhone 5S, which was not only the model where Touch ID first debuted, but also the last one to feature the flat-edged design now resurrected by the iPhone 12.
Both Gurman and Stern also both emphasized that in-display Touch ID will complement Face ID, contrary to other rumours that have suggested Apple is developing it solely to replace Face ID for lower-cost iPhone models. However, Apple has already demonstrated a much better way to do that with last year’s 11-inch iPad Air, which puts the Touch ID sensor in the side button, and several reports suggest that the same method will be used with the next iPhone SE.
In the case of Apple’s flagship iPhone lineup, however, the in-display Touch ID would be designed to allow an alternative way to unlock the iPhone in environments where Face ID isn’t practical, such as when wearing a mask. Even though Apple has already come up with a clever workaround for this scenario, there’s almost no arguing that offering a Touch ID sensor would be far easier, more secure, and make rapid iPhone unlocking accessible to more users.