The iPhone in-screen Touch ID feature you’ve been hankering for for years may surface in the iPhone 13.
Per a new rumor on Friday, the next-gen iPhone may arrive with a fingerprint sensor underneath the display.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 handset offers this feature. In addition, it seems two unnamed former Apple employees have confirmed the company is working on it.
Rumors of this incorporation of Touch ID have circulated for a year or two now, but 2020 and the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to bring out customers’ wish for the return of Touch ID in some fashion, given the necessity of face masks and the fact that Face ID doesn’t work with a mask on.
Apple added a Touch ID sensor to the iPad Air 4 inside its power button. While there probably won’t be enough room for that in a smaller iPhone 13 body, the next most likely place for the feature is under the display.
One employee said that although an optical fingerprint sensor is more reliable than current ultrasonic sensors, Apple wouldn’t add an optical sensor unless it could prove it would be as secure as the current form of Touch ID.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.