Apple brought Touch ID fingerprint recognition on the iPhone 5s released in 2013.
Since then, fingerprint recognition has quickly become a standard feature of smartphones.
Until now, most Android phones still use fingerprint recognition technology, but they have been upgraded from physical buttons to off-screen fingerprints.
Four years after the birth of Touch ID, Apple cut the fingerprint recognition on the iPhone X released in 2017 and adopted Face ID technology.
In the following five years, Face ID became the standard for the flagship iPhone, and only the iPhone SE currently supports fingerprint recognition.
In fact, in many scenarios, Face ID is more convenient, just "look" to unlock the phone.
However, the new crown epidemic that has swept the world has forced people to wear masks in public places, which has made the recognition efficiency of Face ID significantly reduced, or even paralyzed, and users can only return to the original password unlocking method.
Apple, aware of the problem, is also looking for a better solution.
Apple introduced a new feature of Apple Watch assisted iPhone unlock on iOS 14.5 system, when users wear a mask, they can complete iPhone unlocking through apple watch on their wrists.
Of course, the premise is that you have to have an Apple Watch.
Buying an Apple Watch just to unlock your iPhone may seem uneconomical.
Moreover, the Apple Watch assisted unlock iPhone function can only be used to unlock, and can not be paid, or very inconvenient.
In order to solve the problem that more users cannot use Face ID when wearing masks, Apple has added the function of wearing masks to unlock iPhone in the newly released iOS 15.4 beta.
Xiaoguo upgraded to the latest beta version and tried out the new features for a while, overall, it is very good.
Not only can you unlock, but also use Apple Pay, WeChat/Alipay to pay, very convenient.
What Face ID used to do, now there is no problem in wearing a mask.
However, the iOS 15.4 beta version of the mask to unlock the iPhone function, requiring iPhone 12 and updated model support, iPhone X-iPhone 11 model and new features are not available.
Anecdotally, this is because the TrueDepth cameras of the iPhone 11 and older models do not support deep integration technology.
In addition, the A14 and A15 chips of the iPhone 12 / 13 models use a 5nm process process and have stronger computing power.
In short, the ability to wear a mask to unlock the iPhone is most likely not to support the iPhone X-iPhone 11 model.
For some users, it is still hoped that fingerprint recognition can return on the flagship iPhone.
In fact, more than four years ago, Apple has developed a flagship iPhone prototype equipped with fingerprint recognition.
Recently, Twitter whistleblower Ben Geskin once again sent the prototype design of the iPhone X that was rumored a few years ago.
This prototype is equipped with a back Touch ID.
Although Apple eventually released the iPhone X with Face ID, Ben Geskin said that the iPhone X design with touch ID on the back is real.
However, it may be due to technical or other considerations, Apple has not launched a model with a similar design.
As of this fall, Touch ID has been missing on the flagship iPhone for five years, but the news about the fingerprint iPhone has never stopped.
At present, Apple has added a side fingerprint function to the two models of iPad Air and iPad mini.
This information shows that Apple has not completely abandoned fingerprint unlocking technology.
Before the release of almost every generation of flagship iPhones, there will be rumors of fingerprint returns, but so far, it has not come true.
According to the news previously sent by Apple's exposé brother, due to the development progress is not as expected, the release time of the fingerprint iPhone under the screen has been postponed to 2023.
If the message is true, it means that fingerprint recognition will not be seen on this year's iPhone 14. So the question is, do you prefer fingerprint recognition, or do you prefer facial recognition? For more information about the use of Apple device knowledge and skills and to inquire about the warranty, you can pay attention to my WeChat public account: cxkj-001 (fruit powder club).