Apple expected to replace Touch ID with two-step facial, fingerprint bio-recognition tech
Apple is developing advanced biometric security technologies, including facial recognition and optical fingerprint sensing designs, to replace the vaunted Touch ID module implemented in all iPhones and iPads since the release of iPhone 5s.
In a note sent out to investors on Friday, and subsequently obtained by AppleInsider, well-connected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says he believes Apple is developing a new class of bio-recognition technologies that play nice with "full-face," or zero-bezel, displays. Specifically, Kuo foresees Apple replacing existing Touch ID technology with optical fingerprint readers, a change that could arrive as soon as this year, as Apple is widely rumored to introduce a full-screen OLED iPhone model this fall.
Introduced with iPhone 5s, Touch ID is a capacitive type fingerprint sensing module based on technology acquired through Apple's purchase of biometric security specialist AuthenTec in 2012. Initial iterations of the system, built into iPhone and iPad home buttons, incorporated a 500ppi sensor capable of scanning sub-dermal layers of skin to obtain a three-dimensional map of a fingerprint.
