Analyst: Apple will go all in with Face ID in 2018 iPhones

In a note to clients — as noted by AppleInsider — KGI Securities analysts Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will completely abandon its Touch ID capacitive fingerprint recognition system in favor of the “depth-sensing technology when it introduces next year’s iPhone lineup.

We believe this change will allow all new models to realize a competitive advantage via differentiation, on the back of an integrated user experience of full-screen design and TrueDepth Camera/Facial recognition/Face ID/AR applications,” he writes.

In September, Kuo said that IF Face ID on the iPhone X is a hit, we’ll see it replacing Touch ID on future iPhones and iPads. Apparently, he expects it to be a hit. Kuo also anticipates that the TrueDepth camera of the iPhone X will pop up in all future iOS gadgets. 

Apple says Face ID is “even more convenient than Touch ID.” With Face ID, the iPhone X unlocks only when you’re looking at it. It’s designed to resist spoofing by photos or masks. Your facial map is encrypted and protected by the Secure Enclave. And authentication happens instantly on the device, not in the cloud.

The TrueDepth camera for the iPhone X works by using a projector to cast 30,000 dots on your face, which it then reads with an infrared camera. Apple already demonstrated applications of the system, Face ID and Animojis, both of which promise implications of their own when the TrueDepth SDK (software developer kit) is available for developers.