We’ve been asking for Touch ID under the display of iPhones for years. But now, thanks to a patent recently granted, I think we can see it in the iPhone 15 Pro.
Spotted on the US Patent and Trademark Office site by Patent Apple (opens in new tab)this seems to confirm the company’s years of work to get a working system (seriously, the team has been trying to do it since 2013. And not only that, but it seems to agree with Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction that we could see this technology emerge this year.
So allow me to don my tinfoil hat, explain what the patent actually grants, and collude (perhaps wildly) about why I predict you’ll see this feature appear sooner rather than later.
What is the patent?
Patent US 11600103 B2, issued yesterday to Apple, relates to an optical imaging system placed behind (or integrated into) the display of an electronic device — using “shortwave infrared” technology.
To get into details, the optical imaging system produces an image of an object (your finger or thumb) in the shortwave infrared band while accounting for signs of “surface reflection” or “subsurface reflections.”
The first of these relates to external light sources that can alter or confuse more typical systems (for example, a sunbeam), and the subsurface relates to whether that light beam can cause refractions of components in and around the imaging system.
That means a much more accurate reading, and thanks to the use of “shortwave infrared light” you can do a lot more things with it – key use cases include determining if a user’s finger is wet or dry, checking your heart rate, checking the vein pattern your finger and determine blood oxygenation.
So not only could this expanded feature set be used for more secure fingerprint reading (checking your vein pattern in addition to the fingerprint at the skin level), but you could see this being used to expand the kind of readings you give the Apple Health and Apple . Fitness apps, for those who don’t have an Apple Watch Ultra.
Outlook
There’s a reason why I specifically said iPhone 15 Pro. I think like the A17 Bionic and the Dynamic Island, Touch ID under the screen is a feature we’ll see coming to Pro iPhones – coming to the standard models in the future.
And it’s worth repeating that this is a prediction based on the granted patent. We’ve seen times in the past where Apple patents granted a few months ago turned into features pretty quickly.
It’s a little late to address the frustrations of trying to use Face ID with a mask on, which was especially prevalent during the height of the pandemic we’ve been in. But for those (like me) who still get a little nervous on public transport and crowded shops, or who just don’t want to use facial recognition technology, this is an exciting solution.