Apple recently acquired a patent for the Under Display Touch ID from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which has a fingerprint sensor under the display, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Apple describes an optical TouchID sensor mounted beneath the display in a patent document. Apple first introduced Touch ID using capacitive fingerprint sensors in the iPhone 5S, which was released in 2013, and the same capacitive technology was used for the Touch ID sensors used in the 13-inch, 15-inch MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Pro.
However, the Touch ID sensor in the recently released 16-inch MacBook Pro has been reported to be optically modified. As it already has optical Touch ID technology, Apple’s under-display Touch ID patent may be applied to the iPhone 12 (tentative name) as early as next year.
In September, Bloomberg News reported that “Apple is developing display fingerprint recognition technology with its partners.” According to the development progress, it will be introduced to the iPhone that will be released in 2020 as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Apple has been applying it to the iPhone XS series and the iPhone 11 series since it first introduced its new biometric technology ‘Face ID’ on iPhone X in 2017. Face ID can be unlocked quickly in a hands-free way, but it can’t be used in dark places. To address these shortcomings, there are also observations that future iPhones may come with FaceID and TouchID.