Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple iPhones in 2021 could get Face ID and an in-display fingerprint scanner

Apple killed the Touch ID in 2017 with the launch of iPhone X. iPhones, since then, have been coming with Face ID as a faster and more secure method to unlock devices. A new report suggests that Apple could bring back Touch ID in the form of an in-display fingerprint scanner in 2021.

In his investor note, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that Apple would launch iPhones with Face ID and an in-display fingerprint scanner starting 2021. Kuo noted that Apple plans to resolve certain technical issues with the under-screen fingerprint technology, reported 9to5Mac. 

The issues currently revolving around the technology include power consumption, size of the sensing area, the thickness of the sensing module, and the production yield rate of the lamination process.

Kuo believes that Apple would fix these issues within the next 18 months and launch iPhones with both biometric authentication methods in 2021.

The analyst also revealed that Apple might use a variant of Qualcomm’s ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner that enables a user to place and scans their fingerprint on a large area of the screen. Currently, smartphones offering in-display fingerprint scanner support authentication only in a limited section of the screen, mostly at the bottom.

The Cupertino-based tech giant had filed a patent earlier this year which read ‘methods of biometric imaging of input surfaces’.  

It was recently rumoured that Apple could launch a China-specific variant of the iPhone and bring back TouchID, in order to compete with the local manufacturers like Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo, etc. 

The report does not feel to hold any ground, mainly due to Apple’s history of not launching region-specific products.

Earlier, another report suggested that Apple would launch the 2020 iPhones with full-screen Touch ID. The report was based on Apple’s patent filed for an ‘acoustic fingerprint technology’.