While Face ID is obviously Apple’s go-to biosecurity measure for its high-end devices, Touch ID does technically still live on. And there’s certainly no shortage of folks out there in the wild who would like to see the fingerprint-based option make a return for the newest iPhone lineups. And that’s been rumored! But maybe we’ll have to keep waiting.
The rumors regarding Apple bringing back Touch ID for its newest iPhone models were fired up before the launch of iPhone 13 last year. There was some speculation that the feature would end up in those handsets, albeit probably just the “Pro” variants. But, those dreams were dashed even before the phones launched, and, sure enough, Touch ID isn’t present in the iPhone 13 family of handsets.
And according to legendary analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, it sounds like we’re going to keep waiting for a bit longer. In fact, as tweeted by the analyst, Kuo doesn’t expect Apple to bring under-display Touch ID to market in an iPhone within the next two years at all.
Kuo’s tweet on the matter, which states that we’re going to be waiting beyond 2023Â and 2024 before we might see under-display Touch ID in iPhones:
I previously predicted iPhones would support under-display fingerprint sensing/Touch ID in 2023 at the earliest. But the latest survey indicates new iPhones in 2023 & 2024 may not adopt under-display Touch ID. Face ID with a mask on iPhone is already a great biometrics solution.
— éƒæ˜ŽéŒ¤ (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 30, 2022
Now, it’s worth noting that there were some pretty substantial reports saying Apple had tested under-screen Touch ID for the iPhone 13 lineup, but ultimately pulled back on launching the feature. And it turns out, if this latest expectation from Kuo pans out, Apple’s not rushing to anything, either.
The lingering question, of course, is whether or not this means the company has opted to abandon that particular feature altogether. As noted in the tweet, Apple has evolved Touch ID to work in circumstances where Touch ID would be really helpful, especially when wearing a mask. So maybe under-display Touch ID isn’t so important these days, especially with whatever other changes Apple has in the works for Face ID.
What say you? Do you still want to see Apple add under-display Touch ID to devices in the future? Or are you happy with the state of Face ID?