Apple is holding an event in as little as five days to unveil the new iPhone lineup for 2017 consisting of the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus (or iPhone 8 and 8 Plus) and the OLED bezel-less iPhone 8 (or iPhone Edition/X, whatever Apple wants to call it). We basically know everything about the new devices, but the OLED model’s security options have been up in the air for a number of months. Previous reports suggested a Touch ID fingerprint sensor would ship underneath the display of the new smartphone, but later reports indicated Apple had struggled with this and opted instead for a different implementation of the biometric security option, either on the back of the handset or perhaps embedded into the power button on the side. Now, to corroborate other reports that share the same insight, The Wall Street Journal is reporting the flagship $900 iPhone won’t come with Touch ID at all.
According to the Journal, Apple is instead opting to include facial recognition technology since they ran into production issues with the display-integrated Touch ID sensor. In fact, these issues paired with other OLED-related problems would’ve caused the phone’s production to be pushed back a whole month, so to save time, the company thought it was best to give the fingerprint sensor the ax.
Now that such a major publication as the Wall Street Journal is sharing this information, it’s probably safe to assume the iPhone Edition won’t be shipping with Touch ID and will instead depend on Face ID, the company’s rumored facial recognition method. Whether this security measure will be any better than scanning your finger is left to be seen, but rumors point to Apple implementing 3D scanning capabilities thanks to special camera sensors on the front of the phone. Overall, I’d expect the technology to at least be as secure as Touch ID. Otherwise, Apple would really have no right to put it in their flagship phone for 2017.
That being said, we are still expecting the successors to last year’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to feature Touch ID in the same spot as last year: right in the Home button. Of course, we’re still largely guessing at this point, so you’ll wanna stay tuned leading up to September 12th to find out what happens when CEO Tim Cook takes the stage at the new Steve Jobs Theater.
You must log in to post a comment.