Apple Could Have Dropped in-Screen Touch ID Due to Increased Costs, Complexities of Using This Technology, and the Existence of Face ID
In Mark Gurman’s paid version of his Power On newsletter, MacRumors reports that Apple’s Face ID feature will remain the only way to unlock your iPhones, including the iPhone 15 family. Though Apple itself has not provided any reasoning for not bringing back Touch ID, the likely reality is that a minor percentage of iPhone users actually miss it. With Face ID being significantly convenient, being able to unlock your device without the need for an additional finger or thumb, and the ability to authentic from a sizable distance and in varying lighting conditions, Apple already has sufficient motivation to drop the idea of ever bringing Touch ID to future iPhones. For one thing, the added cost alone to bring a fast, accurate, in-screen-capable Touch ID sensor to the iPhone 15 would result in increased components, and additional engineering from the inside would be required, which would result in millions being spent in R&D. With Face ID already working phenomenally well, we feel that soon, it will gravitate to other Apple-branded machines. With the 2021 MacBook Pro models and the M2 MacBook Air sporting a notch, it is only a matter of time before Apple replaces Touch ID with Face ID when launching their succeeding models and incorporating relevant sensors in that notch. While it might be flexible for Apple to introduce two security features for the iPhone 15, it appears most users would be inclined to unlock current and future models with Face ID, so there is absolutely no point in introducing something that users will not take advantage of.
