A new report from DigiTimes says Apple is planning on using a significantly smaller Face ID sensor chip in its iPhones and iPad from late 2021 onwards.
Apple reportedly has reportedly “decided to scale down the die size by 40-50% for VCSEL chips used in 3D face ID sensors for new iPhone and iPad devices to be rolled out later in 2021, a move that will help the vendor sharply cut production costs.”
The move would save money, as the move will allow more chips to be produced on a single wafer, reducing total wafer output. The redesigned VCSEL chip could allow Apple to include new functionality into the chip, but DigiTimes did not speculate on what the new functionality might be. The change could also free up internal space in the devices.
The report claims that the first Apple devices to include the new chip will be the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models, as well as the next generation of iPad Pro tablets.
(Via MacRumors)