Less and less is missing for Apple to present the iPhone 12. In fact it could be next week if the rumors are correct this time. Be that as it may, there are many characteristics that we already know in advance and there are some others that will surely surprise the public. That is why we consider the possibility of seeing the mythical Touch ID back to the devices, but this time in the lock button as it happens in the fourth generation iPad Air. It’s more of a hypothesis, but we discussed why it would make sense.
COVID-19, the perfect excuse for the return of Touch ID
Apple presented an iPhone X in 2017 that, among many other novelties, was the goodbye of Touch ID for its phones. Yes, it is true that we recently had an iPhone SE 2020 with this technology, but it is still an exception because it is at the end of a special edition as its name says. In the company’s high-end phones, everything relies on Face ID, a very well implemented system with a high dose of security and reliability that has managed to dazzle millions of users. However these sensors collide head-on, literally, with a problem in the form of a mask.
In the midst of the pandemic era, the so-called face masks are a common complement in our routines, either to go out to the street or to go to according to public establishments. In fact, in many territories such as Spain it is mandatory. Apple released an iOS update several months ago that allowed iPhones to detect the mask and automatically bring up the numeric keypad to unlock it with a security code. Apple will not really allow Face ID to unlock with the mask , since that would reduce the security level of the system. However, there are those who have reported a bug in Face ID that allows it to be done and it is at the end of an iOS bug that has been present for several weeks and that will probably end up being resolved.
In any case, the Touch ID would completely avoid this problem. Regardless of whether we were wearing a mask or not, we could re-unlock our iPhone with our finger quickly and comfortably. Although this system is less secure than facial unlocking, at least that is what they say from Apple, the truth is that it is more comfortable for many users and more on occasions like this. It remains to be seen how it would coexist with Face ID and if both systems could be activated by default or choose only one of them.
It’s just a hypothesis and not even a rumor
It is very likely that the iPhone 12 will come without Touch ID. We insist on emphasizing, in case it was not clear from the start, that this is simply a conjecture. There is no conclusive information that makes us see that these new smartphones will bring back this biometric sensor. In fact, we say that it is likely that this is not the case because the development of the iPhone 12 ended before the pandemic became patent, and it was then too late for the company to experiment with this system. In any case, it would not have been surprising considering that the new iPad Air will release a new location of the fingerprint reader on a lock button in which Apple had never put such a sensor.
Recently two Apple executives appeared on a popular podcast by iJustine and Jenna Ezarik praising precisely this fingerprint sensor on the iPad Air. Although it is still risky to take this as a reliable indication that the iPhone 12 incorporates it, it is at least striking how they qualify it after several years in which this system seemed to be already doomed to disappear from their main devices.