Apple analyst Kuo thinks Face ID with a Mask makes under-screen Touch ID unnecessary

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is backtracking on his prediction that iPhones will sport under-display Touch ID. Earlier, he predicted that iPhones will feature this technology sometime in 2023 or 2023.

According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, an under-display fingerprint scanner was a feature that Apple explored for some iPhone 13 models.

An under-display fingerprint scanner would have been useful back when wearing face coverings was mandatory and Face ID didn't work when you wore one.

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However, with masks no longer mandatory in some situations and given the adoption and success of Face ID with a Mask thus far, Kuo thinks an under-display fingerprint sensor now seems superfluous even if its a feature found on many high-end Android phones.

Face ID is significantly more convenient than Touch ID, and now that it works even if you are wearing a mask, there's little need for an additional sensor under the screen which would surely add some heft and manufacturing complexity.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.