New rumors have been circulating that Apple has begun experimenting with face scanning technology as a way to replace the fingerprint scanner, this change would be a major breakthrough in mobile phone technology and a major step away from Apple’s Touch ID technology.
The home buttons on iPhones were recently removed on the iPhone 7 and 7 plus in favor of simply a small touchpad where the home button would normally be, the touchpad operates the same as the home button with the exception of actually being able to press it as well as a change as to how many taps on the touch pad would cause the phone to react. This has caused the Touch ID/home button to become a major topic of speculation leading up to the release of the iPhone 8. Apple’s acquisition of the 3D company PrimeSense in 2013 has only helped to further these rumors and has since lead to more rumors that Apple has bought 3D camera devices after Sony demonstrated a 3D face biometric on an Xperia smartphone.
Apple’s last project concerning 3D sensing would be their ARKit, a framework by Apple allowing users to use augmented reality on iPhone and iPad. Being that the iPhone 8 will be the 10th anniversary iPhone for Apple there have been many speculations about what special features this new phone will have with 3D sensors being the biggest and most thought of feature, infrared modules have also been a longstanding rumors regarding the iPhone 8 that could provide the phone with a technology that doesn’t rely on visible light.
Face scanning technology is not going to be an easy build for Apple even with their previous experience with the ARKit, meaning that there is a possibility that this new feature may not be available on iPhone 8 as rumors speculate and even if it is, being that this will be the first launch of Apples 3D face scanning technology there are bound to be some issues revolving around it but Apple has stated that they will be keeping Touch ID on the iPhone 8 as well as making improvements and adding new functions and capabilities for it, though there has been no official word on the 3D scanning technology from Apple as of yet. The iPhone 8 is rumored to cost $1000 or more when it is released, the full price as well as their other features the device possesses has not been officially revealed yet but Apple is expected to reveal more information about the upcoming 10th anniversary phone as the year progresses.