Since Apple revolutionized smartphones ten years ago, it has kept working to give us new technologies that keep changing the way we use mobile devices. One of those has become beloved by all iPhone fans, but you’re going to have to get used to life without it.
No, I’m not talking about the physical Home button, but rather Touch ID. A new report claims there’s no place for it in iPhone 8.
Fingerprint scanners were baked into mobile devices long before Apple delivered the iPhone 5s in 2013. But Touch ID popularized them by being super-fast, incredibly reliable, and more secure than passwords and PINs. Now almost every smartphone has one.
But the iPhone 8 won’t, according to The Wall Street Journal.
People familiar with Apple’s plans claim that the company has been unable to successfully integrate Touch ID into its next-generation handset’s OLED display. Rather than relocating it to the back of the device as some reports have suggested, it is doing away with it altogether.
Apple will instead encourage customers to use another biometric security option. Thanks to fancy 3D sensors and new cameras, the iPhone 8 will reportedly offer advanced facial recognition that’s two years ahead of anything we’ve seen before.
The Journal adds that due to the struggles Apple faced trying to implement Touch ID into a display, production of the iPhone 8 has been delayed. This could mean that we’ll see “extended supply shortfalls” when it launches, making it incredibly difficult to obtain.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Apple might ditch Touch ID, but now The Journal is reporting it’s all but confirmed — and it has an incredibly reliable track record. It seems it’s time to get used to the idea that fingerprint scanning won’t have a place in future iPhones.
