It was earlier reported that next year's iPhone 16 Pro will feature under-screen Face ID. The latest news suggests thatApple is indeed working on moving Face ID off the iPhone's display and bringing back Touch ID, but not in 2024 as originally planned.

According to analyst Ross, Apple had to delay the technology for technical reasons, a year later than originally planned.This means that the under-screen Face ID technology will not be available on the iPhone 16 Pro line, but will not be available on the iPhone 17 Pro line until 2025.Speaking specifically about the cause, Ross attributed the delay to a problem with the sensor.

As early as last year, industry sources said that Apple would most likely include under-screen Face ID in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup to be released in 2024, followed by under-screen Face ID and under-screen front-facing camera in the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in 2026.

This means that the pill screen, which debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro series, will most likely last only two generations before switching to a front-perforated screen, with a no-perforated screen in two years.It's the same front-facing design that handset makers are now pursuing, but for Apple, the challenge of getting a full screen is much higher than for other Android models.

The front panel has only one aperture for the front-facing camera, thanks to Android's ubiquitous under-screen fingerprint recognition. In this case, some Android models already have the under-screen camera technology.

But because the technology is still in its early stages, it hasn't been rolled out on a large scale. The main reason is that, because the front camera is hidden under the screen, the resolution of the camera area needs to be reduced in order to have a clear image. Therefore, under the case of careful observation, the display difference between the camera area under the screen and other areas can be clearly distinguished.

In addition, although the under screen camera is successfully achieved, it always has the influence of pixels in front of the camera. Therefore, the models using the under screen camera usually only have the front lens to see, and the distance to look good still needs a long iteration.

For Android models, the front panel aperture is only the size of the camera, but for Apple, to use such a large area under the screen design, it will inevitably lead to a larger area with different resolution, and the sense of fragmentation will become more serious for users.

Perhaps that's why Apple is moving to Face ID under the screen first. Under the screen, Face ID does not need to take photos with excellent texture. It is only responsible for the dot-matrix projection of relevant recognition points and face recognition and unlock, so there is no big problem in terms of technology.

According to a foreign report, given the current state of the smartphone manufacturing process, Apple doesn't have too much trouble with the technology needed to ensure that external light can penetrate the display and access the TrueDepth camera.

According to the report, "From a display perspective, Face ID works the same way as the UPC(under-screen camera) that Samsung Display is using in Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold line of foldable phones. The UPC also has a front-facing camera module installed under the display, so the camera hole is not visible when the camera function is not in use.

For now, in order to implement the UPC, the camera module specification is only at the 4 megapixel level. This is because the UPC space has to be divided so that one part supports the display function and another part supports the camera function by receiving external light, and high-end smartphones today have front-facing camera specifications well beyond 10 megapixels."

From the current development of technology, Apple in the implementation of under screen Face ID technology, under screen Touch ID will also follow. Apple's Touch ID isn't just for unlocking or other privacy security features, unlike the under-screen fingerprint on Android devices. Apple believes Face ID is far more secure than under-screen fingerprint recognition.

In addition to unlocking, Touch ID can also be used to detect blood oxygen saturation and pulse biometrics, and even determine if a user is wearing gloves and if their fingers are dry or wet, using a new system Apple is working on that combines "short-wave infrared + optical systems" and other technologies.

For Apple, which has been deeply engaged in the field of health, the appearance of Touch ID under the screen on the one hand completes Apple's health map, on the other hand, it can also implement more hardware level biometrics functions on this basis.

However, some users have questioned whether it is necessary to have two biological unlocking methods on one iPhone. In the era of COVID-19, I think this question will be solved when iPhone users wear masks.