The fingerprint sensor is turning into the iPhone 8's biggest mystery
The latest research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which was published by Street Insider, backs up much of what we've heard before about the so-called iPhone 8, which is expected to be unveiled in September.
But there's still a big mystery surrounding how the Touch ID fingerprint sensor will work now that Apple is removing the phone's physical home button in order to make more room for a larger screen on the front of the device.
While Kuo seems to have most of the iPhone 8's details locked down, his reports are a bit fuzzy when it comes to Touch ID. It's been widely reported that Apple was testing a version of Touch ID that could be embedded beneath the screen, but the company seems to be having trouble getting it to work reliably according to various reports.
Now Kuo is saying there likely won't be a Touch ID sensor on the front of the phone.
So, what are the options?
- Does Apple remove Touch ID from the iPhone 8?
- Can Apple figure out how to embed the sensor beneath the screen in time for this fall's launch?
- Does Apple move the fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone, like Samsung did with the Galaxy S8?
- Will the new selfie camera on the iPhone 8 be secure enough to let you unlock the device through facial recognition instead of fingerprint ID? (The Galaxy S8 has this feature, but it's not secure. Don't use it.)
It seems like Touch ID is so essential to the iPhone that it'd be silly for Apple to remove it altogether. In addition to unlocking your phone, Apple Pay, App Store downloads, and even signing into some apps rely on Touch ID. Getting rid of it would be a bigger mistake than removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.
Apple still has a few months to figure it out, if it hasn't already. But our guess is that if Apple can't get the sensor working beneath the screen, the most likely scenario is that it'll move it to the rear of the device.
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