Months before the Apple iPhone 8 is possibly launched, rumors are rife that the company will this time unveil a 5.8-inch iPhone with an edge-to-edge OLED display.
Now, in a new report from JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall, the incoming Apple iPhone 8 will ditch the physical Touch ID fingerprint scanner in favor of new 3D laser scanner that could bring facial recognition for the first time in the company’s iPhone history.
As pointed out, Apple is rumored to be working on an edge-to-edge display screen, but this change of design will also include completely removing the physical home button that usually houses the Touch ID. In addition, Hall notes that if Apple is able to maintain a larger volume supply for the 3D laser scanner, the so-called iPhone 7S and 7S Plus will also ship with support for facial recognition. This could possibly mean that the latter models will ship with both the fingerprint and facial recognition.
Apparently, the new scanner modules will cost between $10 and $15 each, which means that the iPhone 8 is getting even more expensive. There’s talk of all-glass design, a curved OLED display and now a new facial recognition scanner. When these are added to the rising cost of production, Hall is adamant that the iPhone 8 will get an extra cost of $100 compared to one without the features.
This is in line with what has been rumored before – that the iPhone 8 will be priced at more than $1000. According to Hall, those who have had issues with the Touch ID when their fingers are wet will no longer go through the same frustrations. In fact, security gets even better when compared to Touch ID.
The introduction of this new 3D facial recognition technology will not just end with authentication purposes, rather, Hall adds that the rumored augmented reality (AR) could also take advantage of this tech, but this is likely to start in 2018 onwards. But with the WWDC 2017 set for June 5, Hall said that Apple could announce the new iPhone 8.
Not so long ago, another separate report came in with claims that Apple is looking at several other biometric technologies – among them iris scanning and facial recognition – to include on the iPhone 8 in place of the Touch ID. Now that Hall is leaning towards facial recognition, it remains to be to be seen what Apple will indeed use in the next-gen iPhone. Nonetheless, it all seems confirmed that the physical home button and Touch ID are no more.
As with other rumors, take this report with some skepticism as it does not come from Apple. Still, it will be interesting to see what Cupertino has in store for us come the WWDC 2017.