There have been some interesting iPhone 8 rumors in recent times, where there are some who are claiming that Apple might actually do away with Touch ID and replace it with a 3D laser scanner which does facial recognition. Is that true? We suppose that remains to be seen, but in the meantime it looks like Apple is still exploring fingerprint scanning technology.
According to the folks at 9to5Mac, they have discovered that Apple has recently been granted a patent for what appears to be an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. This is actually not the first time that an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner has been rumored/hinted for the iPhone 8, but whether or not it will be realized into an actual product is still up in the air.
The patent talks about how this will be better than regular print scanners because, “Contaminants such as grease, lotion, dirt, sweat, and food particles on a finger can degrade a captured fingerprint image, which can prevent a fingerprint sensing device from matching the captured fingerprint image to a known fingerprint image.”
So far the rumors about Apple ditching the home button for the iPhone 8 have been pretty steady. Exactly what this means for biometric security is anyone’s guess, whether it be a facial recognition system, an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, or maybe moving the old scanner to the back, but we guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.