Whether or not those rumors turn out to be true remains to be seen, but in the meantime the folks at AppleInsider have stumbled across a patent filed by Apple several years ago that suggests that the Cupertino company has been thinking about such a system for a while now. However whether or not the patent is ever realized and made a reality is another story.
That being said, the patent describes a facial recognition system that will rely on depth data gleaned through the use of specialized sensors and cameras, which seems to be in line with the rumors that are saying that Apple could employ a 3D laser scanner to accomplish this task, but then again these are rumors so they’re best taken with a grain of salt.
A more recent rumor has suggested that Apple could go as far as replacing Touch ID with facial recognition, but that would be a bit strange given that it wasn’t too long ago that Apple opened up Touch ID to third-party developers.