November 25 update below. This post was first published on November 22, 2023.
As Apple is pinning down its hardware specifications for the next flagship iPhones, a new report claims that the Touch ID feature which was so important in phones from the iPhone 5 onwards, is on its way to retirement.
Will future iPhones have Touch ID? It seems not.
David Phelan
While it’s not surprising that a series of phones with Face ID would not add Touch ID as well, the report suggests that Apple is winding down its Touch ID component manufacture for the iPhone.
The report was picked up by MacRumors, concerning content from an expert on Weibo, with something of a track record. They were the first to report that the iPhone 14 would retain the A15 Bionic chip, with Apple saving the A16 Bionic for its Pro models that year.
Specifically, it says that the equipment used to manufacture the chips used in the iPhone’s Touch ID has been “permanently shut down” and the remaining units are earmarked for the iPhone SE third generation, which is still on sale.
The devil is in the detail here: the report says that it’s concerning the Touch ID used for the iPhone, so this doesn’t suggest that the iPad is affected. After all, the Touch ID mechanism used in all iPads apart from the ninth-generation iPad and the Face ID-capable iPad Pro is different.
As a side note, it’s possible that this hardware manufacturing change could presage the end of the Touch ID system used on the ninth-gen iPad, that is, it suggests that tablet could be end-of-life in the near future. That’s far from certain, though.
And of course, there’s absolutely no suggestion the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or iMac keyboard with Touch ID have any changes planned for them.
But the closing down of the iPhone Touch ID equipment is interesting. It adds fuel to the fire that the next iPhone SE will have Face ID, which would meant that for the first time, when the current SE is ushered to the exit, that the entire iPhone range would use facial recognition.
And it further confirms what Craig Federighi told me in 2017 when the iPhone X was about to be released, that as soon as Apple’s engineers had lighted on Face ID, they looked no further for a way to securely unlock the iPhone. From that moment, Touch ID on the iPhone’s days were numbered.
That doesn’t mean the fabled under-screen fingerprint recognition rumors won’t one day come true, but I really wouldn’t hold your breath. Other manufacturers have both because in most cases their facial recognition features aren’t as secure. Apple is unlikely to add extra security when its current system is more than enough.
So, farewell then, Touch ID. You were ground-breaking in your time and you’ve served us well on the iPhone. Long live Touch ID on iPad and Mac.
November 25 update. So, what is the future, if any, for Touch ID on the iPhone? Brian Tong’s Apple Bitzcomments on the latest report, pointing out that while regular Touch ID on the iPhone, currently only found on the iPhone SE third-generation, looks likely to disappear, that there are still rumors of Touch ID appearing in an under-the-display manifestation, something that other manufacturers have mastered some years ago, and he says that this might arrive in 2026. On the other hand, he also notes that under-display Face ID is also rumored to arrive about the same time.
So, could we see both technologies on the same phone in a couple of years? After all, that’s what many Android phone makers have built in. I’d say no. Apple is dead against unnecessary complication, so to put two mechanisms to unlock your phone or validate payments when one, Face ID, does it well seems unlikely to me. As mentioned above, the reason most Android phone manufacturers build both in is because their facial recognition is not considered secure enough on its own for making payments, for instance. That is beginning to change but it still looks like Face ID is the most secure way there is. Sure, there are use cases where you might want an extra layer of security on top of Face ID, but I’d still expect Apple to point out that Face ID offers the best security, so anything else would be less effective and therefore not needed.
Still, the fact that the rumors of under-display sensors are still continuing suggests that maybe Apple is prepping this as a back-up if it can’t put Face ID under the screen.
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