Last year Apple introduced us to Touch ID, the fingerprint sensor that resides beneath the home button on its iPhone 5s. We have since heard rumors about the possibility of the sensor being added to iPads as well. It is also highly likely that the upcoming iPhones will feature Touch ID as well. There’s consensus in the rumor mill that most major mobile devices that Apple releases in 2014 will have a fingerprint sensor. A new report suggests that the company is going to improve the durability of its Touch ID sensor.
Apart from both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 models the sensor is also expected to make its way in the new iPad mini as well as the iPad Air 2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is believed to be tasked with manufacturing this component, shipping as many as 120 million units start early July.
China Times reports that this year’s Touch ID sensor will be built at TSMC’s expanded 8-inch chip fabrication plant. This won’t be the first time that TSMC would be handling production of this critical component for Apple. It exclusively provides the Touch ID sensor to Apple for the iPhone 5s as it is.
A much more durable sensor coupled with software optimizations could really improve the user experience. iOS 8 will finally open up the sensor to third party developers, so many of our favorite apps may no longer require us to remember pesky passwords.