For quite some time we’d been hearing that the iPhone 13 would be getting an under display Touch ID sensor in addition to FaceID, essentially to make it way easier to unlock your iPhone when your face is obscured. Then, just a few days ago we heard that this feature may be cancelled, or at the least held off until next year’s iPhone, the presumptive iPhone 14.
This was of course met with disappointment from a lot of iPhone users, especially those without Apple Watches to help unlock the phone when wearing a mask. Now the Watch ID as I like to call it which simply checks for your attention, ie looking at the phone and then verifying your identity by the proximity of an on-wrist unlocked Apple Watch, did have its limitations. For example it can’t be used to unlock keychain, to make Apple Pay payments or other higher security aspects of the iPhone.
However yesterday Jon Prosser at FrontPageTech.com revealed that Apple is currently testing FaceID hardware for iPhone 13 by giving Apple Employees an iPhone 12 case that overrides the internal FaceID sensors and uses its own, which look very similar to the iPhone 13 smaller notch layout, with the camera moved from the right of the earpiece right over to the far left.
Jon has apparently seen around 75 photos of the device, and used the information from these to create renders with RendersByIan to help protect his sources from any identifying marks on the hardware being traced back.
Now my initial reaction to this is that there is no way Apple would be testing hardware for the iPhone 13 at this stage, the iPhone 13 is already well into production, however the chances are that these are in fact being used to help TRAIN the software to make it more reliable ahead of the launch in just a few weeks time.
Why would these new sensors need training though? Because they’re capable of identifying the user’s face securely even when wearing a face covering or fogged glasses, which presumably means the attention aspect of verification with FaceID is a little less vital, but its quite possible that the system is able to map more of the face beyond what the original FaceID system could. This would mean that partially covered faces would be easier to identify from what is still visible.
All this means that the big reason for bringing TouchID back to the iPhone is basically gone, being able to unlock whilst wearing a mask with biometrics, and that is most likely the reason that Apple has opted to not include the under display Touch ID technology that they had been developing. If your Face ID works even in a mask, why spend the money on that new technology too?
The iPhone 13 (or 12S, we’re not 100% sure but I’m leaning towards 13) will also include a new camera layout with larger sensors, quite possibly adding sensor shift image stabilisation, the A15 SOC which is expected to be around 20% faster than A14, a smaller notch and mm wave 5G in more locations. These renders by the way, are from Apple_Tomorrow on Twitter. iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will add to these features up to 120Hz Pro Motion displays that can dynamically adjust refresh rate, ProRes video recording, Larger triple camera setups and most likely an always on display.
Of course in September and into the fall, we’re also expecting to see the New MacBook Pro 14 and 16” with Apple Silicon M1X inside, New entry level iPads, iPad mini, iPad Air, AirPods 3, A Mac mini and a redesigned Apple Watch range, so there’s plenty to get excited about.
Are you down with that change? Let me know in the comments.
Evan Rodgers
• 54 minutes ago (edited)
#icaveanswers Could we see something like a members only livestream /chat during the iPhone event in September, and a general livestream after the event ends?
Dante Burritar • 8 hours ago
Bryan Data • 12 hours ago
#icavranswers if mac minis are coming soon, they must be coming in the old form factor (and not the Zelbo/Prosser render style), because Apple has not registered a new form factor with the Eurasian Economic Commission. What do you think? [Personally, I think the other option is more likely: no mac mini before 2022. This maximises profits for M1X MacBook pros].
Lit 8
#icaveanswers What do you think of the new iOS 15 icons (weather and maps)
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