Apple Tests In-Screen Fingerprint Tech

Apple is reportedly at work on in-screen fingerprint technology for iPhones as early as its 2020 devices. While the technology is in testing among Apple’s overseas suppliers and inside Apple, its release may fall to the 2021 revamp, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

The fingerprint reader would come embedded in the screen and allow a user to scan his or her fingerprint on a big part of the display. It would also reportedly function in conjunction with the Face ID system that already exists. A spokesperson for the tech company did not offer a comment, per Bloomberg.

Unnamed sources in the report claim Apple is mulling the in-screen touch sensor in the 2020 iPhone model in the event of successful testing. According to one unnamed source in the report, suppliers have shown they can integrate the technology into iPhones, but the company has not yet mass-produced it.

Fingerprint readers in-display have “become ubiquitous” when it comes to Android competitors to the iPhone, per Bloomberg. The newest Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo flagships sport the technology. The draw is taking away the requirement of an additional bezel — and still keeping biometric security on the front of a gadget.

In separate news, reports recently surfaced that Apple will reportedly roll out a lower-cost iPhone model next spring. Apple stopped offering new iPhones with Touch ID last year with the rollout of the iPhone XS and iPhone XR. But through the planned low-cost iPhone and future gadgets with technology for in-display fingerprint readers, Touch ID will apparently return, per the report.

The new device would be the firm’s first low-cost smartphone since the iPhone SE’s rollout in 2016. While the new device’s price and name has not yet been determined, it is reportedly seen as the iPhone SE’s latest generation. The less pricey iPhone could bolster Apple sales in the spring of next year, when the lifecycle of the new flagship iPhone would likely begin to slow.