iPhone users may have another unlocking option with Apple’s next model: an in-display fingerprint scanner, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Two former Apple employees tell the Journal that Apple has been working on an optical sensor that would sit inside the iPhone to authenticate users by fingerprint. They claim it’s “more reliable” than an ultrasonic sensor from Qualcomm, and that iPhone users would have the option to use Face ID or Touch ID.
Apple declined to comment to the Journal, but the employees “stressed that whatever solution Apple went with, it would have to meet the security standards of its current Touch ID.”
Touch ID is still in use on the 2020 iPhone SE, as well as the iPad and MacBooks. Apple’s flagship iPhones and iPads rely on Face ID.
Apple would be playing catch-up with Samsung here, though Apple tends to take its time with these things. The new Galaxy S21 Ultra, with sports Qualcomm’s ultrasonic sensor, “is noticeably faster and more accurate than the sensor on the S10 and S20,” we found in our review. “On the other hand, face recognition repeatedly failed to recognize my face (with or without a mask).”
