New iPhones to Feature Enhanced Face ID System: Report

This year’s new iPhones will feature an enhanced Face ID system that can scan users’ faces even if the phone is laying flat on a table, according to a Bloomberg report.

Citing unnamed “people familiar with the situation,” the report lists a number of features of the anticipated iPhone devices as well as other offerings including new Apple Watch devices, iPads, AirPods, a new MacBook Pro, and a new version of the HomePod. Apple has not confirmed any of the reported offerings.

Among the new iPhone features will be a new rear-facing three-camera system on a ‘Pro’ version of the iPhone; upgraded video recording; reverse wireless charging; and faster A13 processors, among other upgrades. Face ID, Apple’s pioneering 3D facial recognition system, will arrive in an upgraded form allowing it to scan faces from a wider range of angles.

It isn’t yet clear if this update will also include security enhancements. While Face ID is generally considered one of the most accurate and reliable biometric authentication systems for mobile devices, earlier this month a pair of researchers with Tencent claimed that they were able to fool its gaze-tracking liveness detection component using a pair of glasses and some tape.

Also omitted from the Bloomberg report is any mention of Touch ID, the fingerprint scanning system that Face ID has replaced on all of Apple’s most recent iPhone models. With in-display fingerprint scanning growing increasingly popular among Apple’s smartphone rivals, often being implemented alongside a facial recognition system, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently predicted that Apple was developing an in-display version of Touch ID, though he didn’t expect it would arrive in iPhone models until 2021.

Apple is expected to unveil its new iPhones – alongside other new product offerings – next month.

Sources: Bloomberg, Forbes