Face ID on all Macs, iPhone and iPads within a few years

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Face ID in ‘all’ Apple Products

Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter that Face ID will eventually come to virtually all Apple products. On the Mac it will be ‘a few years’ to last. Also the iPhone SE and the non-professional iPads will eventually get it. The fact that Apple is not yet switching is that it is cheaper to build in a Touch ID button, which also offers sufficient security. The MacBooks have a completely different problem: the screens are too thin to accommodate the necessary depth sensor.

The ultimate goal, however, is to build Face ID into all major products, says Gurman. To make a distinction, the more expensive models have the camera built directly into the screen, so that a notch is no longer needed. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously predicted that the 2022 iPhone will receive a redesign without a notch. Instead, Apple will opt for a punch-hole display like Samsung, with a small hole for the camera. The current notch has been around since the iPhone X and has therefore been around for a few years.

We don't have to expect all those changes in 2021, Kuo and Gurman agree on that. Bigger changes are coming in 2022.

Slow move at Mac
If all products get facial recognition, it has two advantages: it can be used for security and augmented reality. Only security is possible with Touch ID. The transition to the Mac will be slower as people are less likely to replace the device. There are already MacBooks with Touch ID, but only in recent models.

That Apple is working on it was apparent from a beta of macOS Big Sur, in which references to ‘PearCamera’ were found. This is the internal code name that Apple has used for the TrueDepth camera and Face ID since the iPhone X in 2017. Terms like ‘FaceDetect’ and ‘BioCapture’ point out that Apple is already preparing macOS for Face ID. Now only the hardware remains. An advantage of the MacBook is that it already has a wide black border in which the camera can be incorporated. A notch is therefore not necessary.