At present, in the smartphone industry, iOS and Android have become two distinct genres. The difference between the two is not only the difference in operating system, in biometric technology, Apple has been adhering to Face ID in recent years, that is, the 3D face recognition route, and a number of Android model manufacturers have identified the screen fingerprint recognition scheme without wavering.
Previously, it was revealed that Apple's new iPhone model is testing the open-hole screen solution with a 120Hz refresh rate, which also implies that the route dispute between Face ID and screen fingerprint recognition technology may end in 2022.
But before the new flagship iPhone is officially unveiled, it is clear that everything is possible. A few days ago, some people revealed that it is now basically confirmed that Apple has stopped developing screen fingerprint recognition technology for the iPhone, and it has decided to transfer all TouchID's work and resources to the FaceID team in January this year.
But in fact, the design of the open-hole screen is usually prepared for the front camera, but even after the iPhone 13 series, Apple chose to move the earpiece up, no longer integrated on the screen, and merged the flood illuminator and the dot matrix projector into one, reducing the volume of Face ID and thus reducing the slotted area by 20%, but the components in the iPhone 13 series "bangs" are obviously unlikely to be compatible with the open screen.
Therefore, there is a view that if the iPhone 14 series wants to use the opening screen, it naturally needs the supporting screen fingerprint recognition technology, after all, consumers will obviously no longer accept the traditional Touch ID, and not to mention that Apple has already canceled the home button design on the iPhone. Conversely, if Apple wants to continue the design language starting from the iPhone X, Face ID is almost an option to avoid. Not to mention that the iPhone 14 series to be sold around the world can only have one design, and screen fingerprint recognition and Face ID are almost unlikely to coexist.
Judging from the current rumors, Apple seems to have chosen to "go black" on the technical route of Face ID, as if "everyone is drunk and I am awake". However, it should be noted that the wrong choice of technical route is often quite serious for technology companies. For example, the plasma TV of that year is a lesson for the past, although it has the advantages of high definition, high contrast, bright colors, high degree of reduction, fast response, etc., it was eventually abandoned by the market for various reasons, which also led to Panasonic, who mastered the core technology at that time, and was therefore seriously injured.
Apple's eventual choice of Face ID and the abandonment of investment in screen fingerprint recognition are a key functional change involving the core asset of the iPhone, and the reasons for this are naturally extremely complex. And the reason for this outside speculation may be these two, that is, after years of hard work, Apple has supported the use of Face ID to unlock and pay when wearing a mask in the iOS 15.4 beta, and the design of the special-shaped full screen has been moved from the iPhone to the MacBook on the new MacBook Pro.
In the context of the epidemic, Face ID can undoubtedly be said to have encountered unexpected problems in the research and development stage of Apple, and when consumers have adapted to the days of wearing masks to go out, Face ID does not seem to be ready. For a long time in the past, Apple has tried to make the iPhone's Face ID more easily recognize its owner through algorithms and deep learning technology, but the operation logic of Face ID itself is completely opposite to wearing a mask.
According to Apple at the iPhone X new product launch, the working mode of Face ID is to project more than 30,000 light points onto the face of the person through the built-in dot matrix projector, so that the infrared lens captures the dot matrix pattern, draws a three-dimensional face image after calculation, and then compares with the recorded face information, and finally achieves 3D face recognition. However, in the case of wearing a mask, only half of the face can be recognized. Now Apple has chosen to identify unique features around the eyes for certification, which also proves its unwavering determination to Face ID.
Another key factor is that the new MacBook Pro uses a special-shaped full-screen design, but it does not prepare face ID function for it, but such a screen design is obviously prepared for Face ID. In any case, Face ID compared to the screen fingerprint recognition technology, the biggest advantage is non-contact and non-perceived interaction, as long as the security problem is solved, ease of use is better than the latter. Picking up an iPhone and sliding to unlock and sitting in front of a MacBook to unlock automatically is obviously more natural than pressing the phone or pressing the fingerprint in front of the computer.
In addition, Apple's product philosophy has always been that "consumers don't know what they need, until we come up with our own products, they find out that this is what I want." Their approach is not to let consumers do multiple choice questions, but to directly come up with the only option, so the coexistence of 3D face recognition and fingerprint recognition on Huawei's Mate 20 series is obviously difficult to happen to Apple's products.
The most important point is that although Face ID is slightly inferior to screen fingerprint recognition in the current use experience, from a long-term perspective, Face ID represents the future. You know, the off-screen camera technology from ZTE's Axon 20 5G to the just unveiled Red Devils 7 Pro has taken a big step forward in commercialization, and making Face ID into a screen is obviously not impossible, and at that time, the iPhone experience will undoubtedly far exceed the Android model.
In addition, the sunk cost invested by Apple in Face ID is already very large, so with the gradual maturity of under-screen camera technology, it may be one of the reasons why screen fingerprint recognition technology has been abandoned. In this way, the touch ID of the screen fingerprint recognition version also has a sense of both life and happiness.