Both under-screen fingerprint and face biometrics could be coming to future iPhones

A newly-revealed patent application suggests Apple will bring back Touch ID while simultaneously removing the notch at the top of the screen which houses the sensors for Face ID, by using under-screen biometric sensors, reports Apple Insider.

The tech website interprets the wording of the patent document to include both forms of biometric authentication by allowing light through the screen to sensors and without interfering with the display itself. The inclusion of both biometric modalities on iPhones has been rumored for some time.

The patent filing for ‘Through-display optical transmission, reception, or sensing through micro-optic elements’, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization, suggests that these functions could work from any part of the screen, similar to a full-screen fingerprint sensor teased by Touch Biometrix ahead of a 2022 launch.

Apple’s filing says “the 2D or 3D image may be an image of a fingerprint, a face, or a scene in a field of view,” and the display stack “includes light-emitting elements.”

A second Apple patent filing published by the USPTO for an ‘Electronic device with display apertures’ provides some detail on how the system would work, with light passing through “an array of apertures” to an optical fingerprint sensor.

In other Apple biometrics news, the iOS versions of Google’s Chrome browser can now biometrically protect Incognito tabs with an iPhone or iPad’s Touch ID or Face ID, reports MacRumors.

Article Topics

Apple  |  biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  Face ID  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprint recognition  |  iPhone  |  patents  |  research and development  |  smartphones  |  Touch ID  |  under display