A rumor from website apple.club.tw says Apple will be bringing Touch ID to Macs this fall. The blog published legitimate photos of iPad Air 2 Touch ID and A8X components last fall, so it does have a good recent track record for rumors.
The website says that the upcoming 12-inch Retina MacBook Air and a future MacBook Pro model will integrate the Touch ID fingerprint scanner into a component above the standard trackpad. Our renderings from January did not include such a scanner, but it is possible that a special model of the upcoming computer could still include the scanner.
Desktop Macs, such as the Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac mini would receive Touch ID abilities via an upgraded Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.
Touch ID for the Mac would open the world of online Apple Pay transactions to users of the Mac, with Apple likely offering the one-touch convenience of Apple Pay for iTunes, the Mac App Store, and Apple’s own online storefront. Apple would need to launch a new API to bring Apple Pay support to third-party apps and online stores.
It should be noted that Touch ID is based on a secure element found in the A-series chips used in the iPhone and iPad. Such a component would need to be integrated into future Macs and their input devices to make such a thing feasible.
Touch ID would also be handy to replace entering a password to login to a Mac, which would increase security of the Mac environment.
All of this is of course mere rumor at this point, and should be treated as such. While Apple is likely looking at using Touch ID in its Mac lineup at some future date, the lack of any other mention of Touch ID for the much rumored upcoming MacBook Air makes this all seem unlikely, but we’ll keep our eyes open for any other mention of this in the future.
