Yes, you read it right. Now, knowing that Apple holds control of under-display Touch ID, users are wondering whether the company will stick to their advanced Face ID system or instead switch to a Touch ID solution, with the sensor placed underneath the screen.
Biometric security development
Apple is continuously developing both of their (now) traditional types of biometric security technologies and today they even managed to win a patent for an approach of a fingerprint sensor embedded into the display of future iterations of the iPhone.
The patent was awarded for a solution to optically read fingerprints. Past generation Touch ID sensors use capacitive touch to detect the fingerprint of the person who’s holding the phone. The very same technology was used on the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro platforms and even on the new MacBook Air.
Report from Patently Apple
The latest report from Patently Apple (a “blog focused on dissecting Apple’s latest Intellectual Property”) reveals some interesting details about Apple’s progress in the field of biometric security.
Patently Apple’s report shows that the 16-inch MacBook Pro uses an optical reader, even though this is embedded into the power switch in a similar way earlier capacitive sensors were. Optical readers, frankly, can be used as under-display Touch ID sensors, which is furthermore suggested by reports from Apple’s patent illustrations.
Some suggestions hint that, while Apple can, of course, replace Face ID with under-display Touch ID, they will likely bundle them on future versions of the iPhone because each of the solutions have their pros and cons, so they can complement each other to ultimately create a perfect authentication system.
