Apple is planning to reintroduce Touch ID with an in-display fingerprint sensor in its 2021 iPhones, a new report from noted industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed. Noted industry analyst, and somewhat of a tech clairvoyant, Ming-Chi Kuo believes the feature could be introduced by 2021. It is thought the feature will work alongside current privacy and security features to offer additional safety and security to users.
It seems the move may have been temporary and rumour suggest Apple could have been working on the in-screen tech since 2017, when it filed a patent on the tech.
While FaceID has become an Apple mainstay, not featuring on iPads as well as mobile phones, the rest of the industry and jumped ahead of the California-based tech giant when it comes to the fingerprint detecting hardware.
Chinese firm Oppo has released its Reno handset with an in-screen detector which is now available.
This now joins Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Nokia and OnePlus as manufacturers with the capability.
Rumours are abound of other tech firms developing similar capabilities, with Apple seemingly among them.
The tech is still developing and currently requires a thick module, lots of energy and only works on a specific portion of the screen.
By 2021, many of these issues may have been solved, Kuo claims. TouchID was removed from all iPhone handsets after the 8 Plus, leaving FaceID as the lone form of authentication.
Unifying the Touch ID and Face ID security systems is an intriguing idea. Potentially, this opens the door to some kind of two-factor biometric authentication, meaning a potential hacker would have to imitate both your face and your fingerprint to gain access to your phone. Hackers were able to foil Touch ID within 24 hours of the technology’s original launch, but the technology could be far harder to bypass if it’s being used in conjunction with another form of biometric security.