Apple to eliminate fingerprint scanners on all 2018 models?

For 2017, Apple kept its Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the Apple iPhone 8 and Apple iPhone 8 Plus. The tenth anniversary model, the Apple iPhone X, doesn't employ a fingerprint scanner at all. Despite efforts to embed Touch ID under the display, Apple could not perfect the technology and focused instead on Face ID. With the front-facing TrueDepth Camera providing facial recognition capabilities, a glance at the iPhone X by the user can unlock the device and verify identification for Apple Pay.

Today, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, recognized as the best Apple analyst on the planet (or at least the most connected), reiterated a comment he made last month. He predicts that Touch ID, which debuted on the Apple iPhone 5s, will go the way of the 3.5mm headphone jack with the 2018 models. The analyst says that all iPhone models to be unveiled in 2018 will come with the TrueDepth Camera and Face ID. Just a few days ago, he said that starting with next year's new models, the Apple iPad Pro will come with the TrueDepth Camera and Face ID.

Apple wasn't the first to include a fingerprint scanner on a smartphone (remember the Motorola Atrix?), but it was the first to make it work. Other manufacturers followed Apple and now 70% of Android phones to be launched next year are expected to feature a fingerprint scanner. And it appears as though Apple is leading the way again. Last week, KGI's Kuo said that Android manufacturers are shifting their focus from putting a fingerprint scanner under a phone's display, and instead they are working on developing something similar to the TrueDepth Camera so that they can offer a facial recognition system like Face ID.

There is something important to point out. There have been very few real life tests of Face ID. All of the excitement over Face ID might be considered preliminary until enough people have tested it.

source: AppleInsider