Apple has plans to bring Face ID to the Mac with the next “couple of years,” says well-connected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman. Gurman made the remarks in the latest edition of the “Power On” newsletter.
Gurman says he believes Apple’s aim is to shift all of its products to using Face ID, including lower-end iPhones (such as the iPhone SE) and the iPad Air, both of which currently use Touch ID. Gurman says for the short term, Touch ID will remain important for lower-end models, as it brings a “cheaper alternative” to Face ID, while also providing security to the devices’ users.
But I expect that to eventually change. It won’t happen this year, but I’d bet Face ID on the Mac is coming within a couple of years. I expect all iPhones and iPads to transition to Face ID within that timeframe, too. Eventually, a camera embedded in the screen would help differentiate Apple’s pricier devices by eliminating the notch at the top. The facial recognition sensor gives Apple two central features: security and augmented reality. Touch ID, more convenient or not, only provides the former.
Gurman had reported in the past that Apple was planning a newly designed 24-inch iMac that would include Face ID, but that the feature had been delayed to a future redesign instead. The delay is related to how Mac laptops screens are significantly thinner than iPhone and iPad devices, making it tougher to fit the required depth sensors for Face ID.
Gurman says that in the future, Apple will eventually embed Face ID into the screens themselves, abandoning the need for a notch on the iPhone.