'iPhone 15' will get in-screen Touch ID, 'iPhone Fold' arrives in 2024 says Ming-Chi Kuo
In a note to investors, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that under-display Touch ID will arrive in 2023, plus when he's expecting the long-rumored folding iPhone.
The note, seen by AppleInsider delves into details about the financial prospects of Apple's iPhone component suppliers. However, in the note, Kuo laid out a timeline for the return of Touch ID to Apple's all-screen iPhone lineup and when he expects a folding iPhone to ship.
Kuo attributes a one-year slip for under-display Touch ID and the folding iPhone to "lower than expected development progress." However, it isn't made clear in the note what the development progress stalls are attributable to.
A 2022 iPhone SE with 5G is also discussed again, with no change in timetable from his previous reports. Also repeated are a "new and more affordable 6.7-[inch] iPhone" and a punch-hole display plus 48 megapixel camera arriving in the 2022 iPhone.
Also in the note, he says that the later-than-expected rollout of the features will "hurt iPhone shipments in 2022 and 2023."
Reports of testing Touch ID in a next-generation iPhone surfaced in January 2021, with a new in-screen optical system accompanying the existing Face ID. By March, Kuo forecast that Apple would not add Touch ID to the iPhone 13, pointing to supply chain data.
Kuo focused on the folding iPhone concept in May of 2021. At the time, he said that Apple's first foldable iPhone would have an 8-inch QHD+ display. The display is predicted to have a 3,200 x 1,800 pixel resolution. If the report is accurate, that is a higher effective resolution panel than Samsung Fold's 7.3-inch QXGA+ screen, with a 16:9 ratio.
Initially, Kuo said that Apple would manufacture between 15 million and 20 million foldable iPhone units in 2023. However, with the latest report, Kuo believes that it will be ready for the traditional iPhone season, but in the fall of 2024.
Read on AppleInsider
The note, seen by AppleInsider delves into details about the financial prospects of Apple's iPhone component suppliers. However, in the note, Kuo laid out a timeline for the return of Touch ID to Apple's all-screen iPhone lineup and when he expects a folding iPhone to ship.
Kuo attributes a one-year slip for under-display Touch ID and the folding iPhone to "lower than expected development progress." However, it isn't made clear in the note what the development progress stalls are attributable to.
A 2022 iPhone SE with 5G is also discussed again, with no change in timetable from his previous reports. Also repeated are a "new and more affordable 6.7-[inch] iPhone" and a punch-hole display plus 48 megapixel camera arriving in the 2022 iPhone.
Also in the note, he says that the later-than-expected rollout of the features will "hurt iPhone shipments in 2022 and 2023."
Reports of testing Touch ID in a next-generation iPhone surfaced in January 2021, with a new in-screen optical system accompanying the existing Face ID. By March, Kuo forecast that Apple would not add Touch ID to the iPhone 13, pointing to supply chain data.
Kuo focused on the folding iPhone concept in May of 2021. At the time, he said that Apple's first foldable iPhone would have an 8-inch QHD+ display. The display is predicted to have a 3,200 x 1,800 pixel resolution. If the report is accurate, that is a higher effective resolution panel than Samsung Fold's 7.3-inch QXGA+ screen, with a 16:9 ratio.
Initially, Kuo said that Apple would manufacture between 15 million and 20 million foldable iPhone units in 2023. However, with the latest report, Kuo believes that it will be ready for the traditional iPhone season, but in the fall of 2024.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
And now that we have solved the FaceID with mask issue by using Apple Watch, TouchID is really not needed. I cant imagine too many people with an iPhone DONT have at least a Series 3 if they wanted an apple watch at this point.
As for the possibility of a return of TouchID, there are some potential benefits. One is that it could be enabled as an alternate to FaceID when FaceID won't work, like when you're wearing a mask (hopefully by then we'll just be back to thinking about ski masks and scarves in the winter).
The other is if you want to really heighten your level of security. At least a few years ago, the probability of a false-positive for touchID was something like 1/50,000, and the probability of a false-positive for FaceID was something like 1/1,000,000. The numbers for both are probably better than that by now. If you set your phone to require both to unlock it, you get to multiply those probabilities for each, resulting in an infinitesimally small chance of false positives happening for both and unlocking your phone. Using the above stats, your denominator becomes 50 billion, which is roughly seven times larger than the total human population. This means that it would be, for practical purposes, an impossibility for anyone but the owner of an iPhone to get through both TouchID and FaceID to unlock an iPhone.
I haven't missed it either - because I never downgraded to the useless Face ID. And I never intend to.
It doesn't work with masks. I strongly recommend continuing to avoid it.
Eg, when folded up, 6" 2:1 aspect ratio, which is just a little shorter than today's iPhones, and when unfolded, it would be 9.7" 3:2. Problem is that the thickness is pretty darn hard to workaround. You want the folded thickness to be about 0.4" (12mm) or less, about the original iPhone thickness. This means when unfolded, it would be about 0.16" (4mm). Not a lot of room for display and battery.
If it is thin phone thick, about 0.27" (7mm), that would make for a 0.83" (21mm) thick device when folded. The bulk is really adding up. Also have a mass issue. Thing is going to be about 0.5 lb. Heavy.
The current issue imo with folding phones is that there isn't a comfortable aspect ratio for either folded or unfolded configurations, robustness aside.