For three years, Apple has filed several patents for the establishment of a biometric sensor hidden under the screen of its smartphones. This innovation, based on an ultrasonic sensor, should arrive on the iPhone in 2020.
And if the TouchID reborn from the ashes on the next iPhone? Buried by Apple in favor of FaceID the sensor for fingerprint could finally make his comeback on upcoming models. More precisely, it would be an ultrasonic sensor, hidden under the screen as found on the Galaxy S10.
Except that Apple would go much further than Samsung since this sensor could recognize your fingerprint anywhere on the screen. No need to place your finger in a specific place as is the case with optical sensors since it is the entire surface of the screen that would be able to recognize your fingerprint.
Not before 2020?
According to MacRumors, quoting a Barclays analyst, this innovation would not be expected until 2020, so it is not sure that it will be present on the iPhone 11 or XI. What is certain is that for several years, Apple has filed patents on this technology of fingerprint recognition using acoustic pulses.
The different sensors are placed on the outer edges of the screen, and no longer at a specific location under the screen. The acoustic transducer is then responsible for recognizing the 3D footprint of the finger on the screen and compare it to the image recorded by the user.
The strong point, if we believe the patent published this winter and a second unveiled in late April, is that the support can be done anywhere on the phone, but also that the finger has not any need to be dry or clean. If Apple is moving towards this solution, it is both for economic reasons because this type of sensor is less expensive, but also because the identification by FaceID is not only supporters, and the abandonment of TouchID had raised some regrets.