[Mobile Phone China] At present, the Apple and Android camps can be described as "incompatible", both have functions that the other party does not have, so whenever the new machines of the two parties are launched, many people are faced with the choice of "taking sides". As we all know, unlocking the mobile phone is the first step for most people to use the mobile phone, and this simple step is an important step chosen by many mobile phone manufacturers after several iterations and experiments.
So far, the unlocking method of the mobile phone is roughly divided into fingerprint unlocking, face unlocking, iris unlocking, because iris unlocking is not common, we will not discuss it here. In the Android camp, many mobile phone manufacturers are scrambling to develop a new generation of under-screen fingerprint recognition, committed to allowing users to be able to "unlock in seconds", although many models also have the function of facial recognition, but the degree of development is far less than fingerprint recognition.
When major manufacturers have developed fingerprint recognition, there has been an "outlier" - iPhone. Users familiar with Apple must know that the iPhone 8 series is Apple's last generation of models that support fingerprint recognition, and the subsequent iPhone X series, iPhone 11 series and other models are only Face ID, in the Android manufacturer's screen fingerprint technology "popular" at the moment, why did Apple give up fingerprint recognition and turn to Face ID? Is Apple really going to go black on Face ID? Next, mobile phone China will take everyone to explore the mystery.
Apple or cancel the development of off-screen fingerprint recognition
Recently, according to the insider Leaks ApplePro, it was confirmed that Apple engineers no longer developed under-screen fingerprint recognition for the iPhone. It is reported that in early 2021, Apple decided to transfer all the resources for the development of Touch ID to the Face ID team, which means that Apple may no longer launch models that support fingerprint unlocking. Recently, Apple pushed the function of allowing face unlocking to wear masks in iOS 15.4 Beta, which also shows that Apple attaches great importance to the development of Face ID functions.
apple
It can be seen that Apple believes that Face ID is the general trend of the future, and the Liu Haiping starting from the iPhone X is a problem of implementing Face ID extension. Since the iPhone entered the era of full screen, the "bangs" at the top of the screen have been like shadows, and after several iterations, Apple can only reduce the area of "bangs", which will still have an impact on the perception. So, before the birth of "Liu Haiping", what was the level of Apple's biometrics?
A Brief History of iPhone Biometrics
Until now, Apple has used two types of biometrics: Touch ID and Face ID. In September 2013, Apple launched its first fingerprint-enabled model, the iPhone 5s, and was selected as one of the "Top 10 Most Innovative Devices of the Year" by Business Insider in the United States. Starting from the iPhone 5s, all the way to the iPhone 8 series have adopted a fingerprint Touch ID, and the fingerprint recognition module is the iPhone's classic physical Home button.
Many people love the home button, but since the launch of the iPhone X in September 2017, Apple has changed the classic home button, officially entered the era of full screen, and equipped with a more secure Face ID. Apple's facial recognition technology is equipped with ambient light sensors, distance sensors, infrared lenses, flood sensing elements, and dot matrix projectors to jointly build a 3D model of the user's face, and Face ID has completely replaced Touch ID.
Why Apple canceled the development of off-screen fingerprints
The fingerprint under the screen is actually not a complex technology, and the reason why Apple does not intend to use the fingerprint under the screen, in fact, we can see it from the disassembly diagram. As we all know, the space inside the iPhone is actually so large, after plugging down various parts, the space has been extremely small, and because apple's vibration motor, speaker size is larger, it is difficult to add a fingerprint module under the screen.
Android phone disassembly diagram
In addition to the reasons for the internal space, Apple adheres to the principle of "ensuring that the user's experience is perfect before the product is released", and is very cautious about the use of new features, and the current under-screen fingerprint technology is not fully mature, and its experience does not reach the height of Face ID, so Apple may prefer to fully improve Face ID rather than waste energy on other solutions.
Which is the future, the fingerprint and face ID under the screen
At present, Apple's 3D structured light technology is very mature, the unlocking speed is very fast, and it does not require finger operation, and it can be unlocked by just raising your hand. The only drawback of Apple Face ID is the "bangs", because the 3D structured light occupies a lot of internal space, Apple can only compromise on the value of the face. In recent years, Apple has been committed to optimizing the internal space, the "bangs" area of the iPhone 13 series has become visiblely smaller with the naked eye, and the rumored iPhone 14 series will completely abandon the bangs screen, which is also a big step forward.
Under-screen fingerprint technology generally adopts optical schemes and ultrasonic schemes, of which optical fingerprint recognition records only 2D information, does not have biological activity detection, unlocking speed is certainly fast, but the security is certainly not better than Face ID; ultrasonic fingerprint recognition can record the 3D information of fingerprints, security is certainly beyond doubt, but the unlocking speed is not as good as the optical scheme, and it will also be affected by the film, resulting in a further reduction in unlocking speed.
In contrast, face ID involves information such as eye socket depth, nose bridge height, orbit height and other information when recording face information, establishing a head model, which greatly improves the difficulty of cracking, and under the blessing of infrared, it can be easily unlocked even in a low-light environment. In summary, Face ID is necessarily above the fingerprint under the screen in terms of security, but because the fingerprint technology under the screen is not yet fully mature, so Face ID and the fingerprint under the screen which is the future direction, for the time being, can not be conclusive.