It was initially a piece of exciting news when it was reported that the iPhone 13 series will likely feature an under-display fingerprint scanner or TouchID as Apple likes to call it but that might not be possible anymore according to a newer report about the upcoming smartphone.
Media outlet Bloomberg reported that Apple has been experimenting with the kind of in-screen fingerprint reader which is very popular among Android smartphones will probably not make it to the iPhone soon.
This might be a really disappointing piece of news for those who’d like to just have to use their fingerprint to unlock their device while wearing face masks because the FaceID obviously doesn’t work with your face mask on.
Even though Apple made some changes to the iOS since iOS 14 which allowed users to switch between unlocking their device with the FaceID or straight up using their PIN but that is still not enough because of the fact that it would have been better for a user to merely use their fingerprint and not have to worry whether the PIN is right or not.
Apple dropped the TouchID technology the moment it introduced the iPhone X when it left out the Home Button and then brought the Face ID instead which has taken majority of the notch on iPhones since then and Apple isn’t the kind of company that backtrack on features. Because some consider the removal of the Home button as the ultimate demise of the TouchID on premium-tier iPhones and that might be true.
With the pandemic, Apple built an entirely different smartphone – iPhone SE (2020) which re-introduced the TouchID on the device but the pandemic is definitely going and that might in fact give Apple more opportunity to forget about the TouchID and focus on future technologies – if any.
Even though majority of the US populations have been vaccinated and the enforcement of face mask is now becoming a thing of the past, outside of the country, the usage of face mask is still a big thing. Consider Africa as an example and unless Apple is trying to build different smartphone for a different region based on the number of those vaccinated (which is definitely not gonna happen), a general device that fits all would be more appreciated.
Although this isn’t the absolute news about the iPhone 13 because “What If?” what if the company listened to its customers and decides to bring the technology back considering the fact that Apple now utilize OLED panels on all of its iPhones since 2020, implementing an under-display fingerprint reader will definitely not be a problem for the company at all.
Also Bloomberg merely said the feature will “likely” not make it to the iPhone 13 this year and that might mean the technology may not be implemented underneath the display because the iPad Air has the Touch ID embedded in the lock button.
I will just be glad to find the TouchID on an iPhone 13 maybe the high-end or the low-end tier and the fact that Apple may reduce the notch on the device might also point to that fact – who know. But until September, we’ll see what Apple is really planning.