Apple to feature both Face ID and under-display Touch ID in iPhones — but not until 2021: Analyst

The Cupertino giant Apple would finally get some inspiration from its Android rivalry but it will be quite late then.

Most trusted analyst renowned for predicting most of the things related to Apple, Ming-Chi Kuo has just released a new report claiming that Apple will bring back Touch ID fingerprint recognition to its iPhones starting in 2021. He believes that Apple will release an iPhone with both Face ID and under-display Touch ID fingerprint biometrics.

Apple has faced scrutiny over various technical issues in its iPhones over the past couple of years. The battery gate and bend gate are some of those, every tech geek quotes quite often. Kuo says that over the next 18 months, a lot of technical issues will be resolved which will enable Apple to deliver the high-tier experience it strives for in its devices.

It is worth mentioning here that TF Securities Ming-Chi Kuo insights the facial recognition and fingerprint recognition technologies as complementary and believes Apple will want to unify the experiences. Apple has been filing patents on under-display fingerprint recognition technologies which suggest Apple is still pursuing a Touch ID future (without the button).

However, current technological challenges to launching fingerprint-under-display components include power consumption, size of the sensing area, the thickness of the sensing module, and the production yield rate of the lamination process. Kuo says he believes these issues will be addressed in the next year or so, opening the door for Apple to design into the 2021 iPhone.

Apple is quite late in introducing the in-display fingerprint technology which its Android rivalry is using for over a year. Kuo says it is likely that Apple will use a variant of Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint-under-display system, which enables the user to place their finger on a large area of the screen to be scanned.

Moreover, the analyst also said that if the Apple Watch gained biometrics in the future, an under-display fingerprint scanner is a more likely route than a Face ID facial recognition camera. However, he does not make any claims about whether that is actually in the works.

Just yesterday, TF Securities published another report from Kuo detailing the impending tariff impact on Apple’s product lineup. Apple will likely absorb any trade war tariffs in the short term as it looks to diversify production beyond China as soon as next year.