We wrote earlier this week that Apple’s new TrueDepth camera is here to stay, and with it the prospect of Face ID rolling out to more and more devices next year.
A new report from trusted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, delivered as a note to investors, suggests that Apple is going all-in on its new face detection technology to the extent that it will leave Touch ID by the wayside from 2018 onwards.
Touch ID has been a mainstay of iPhones for years now, and its more recently made its way to iPads and even MacBooks. The fingerprint-sensing technology is fast, secure and convenient, but Apple says its advanced facial recognition is even better on all counts. In fact, according to Kuo, Apple is so confident that Face ID is the future it’s prepared to roll it out across every iPhone next year.
Though the iPhone X will be the first device to remove Touch ID, it was assumed that only technical limitations stopped Apple including both types of sensor in the device and future iPhones might offer a choice between Touch ID and Face ID. Another train of thought was that Apple would keep Face ID for the super premium models while still offering a cheaper alternative with Touch ID, like it’s doing currently with the iPhone 8. This new report implies that Apple has no intention to keep Touch ID around once it’s perfected Face ID, and next year consumers will no longer have a choice in the matter.
Remember that the TrueDepth camera isn’t just about Face ID as a method of unlocking the device. Adding the technology to all iPhones provides a better platform for augmented reality, impressive portrait photography, and other 3D sensing uses.
Would you be sad to see Touch ID go? There’s a lot of skepticism around facial recognition at the moment, but until the iPhone X drops in a few weeks and the reviews start rolling in, it’s hard to tell if that skepticism is justified.