iPhone 16 Pro could get a major Face ID overhaul
A fresh Apple supply chain report has revealed that Apple’s hotly-anticipated Face ID overhaul and a move to an under-display camera could still be on the cards for the iPhone 16 after the company pulled the plug on orders for the components of its current biometric configuration.
In 2022, reports suggested that the iPhone 16 would feature under-display Face ID. However, the source of that report, top insider Ross Young, withdrew the initial rumor in 2023 with a revised roadmap pointing to the change coming with the iPhone 17 in 2025 instead. Now, reports of a British microchip plant facing closure have reopened the possibility of the change coming this year instead.
iPhone 16’s under-display Face ID
As reported by The Telegraph, a 310,000 sq ft chip facility in County Durham, UK, is facing closure after Apple “pulled the plug” on a “lucrative” supply deal. According to owner Coherent, its primary customer, purported to be Apple, ceased orders at the end of FY 2023. The plant has already laid off 100 staff, with 257 kept on to fulfill its remaining contracts. The news is interesting for iPhone customers because it points to a major change coming to Face ID this year. According to The Telegraph, “the plant manufactures components for Apple that feature in the iPhone’s Face ID recognition system, but that the US giant is believed to have ceased orders due to upcoming changes to the next version of the iPhone.”
Taptic
Apple's iPhone 16 could finally get the capacitive buttons that the iPhone 15 missed out on with a supplier now lined up
If Apple sticks to its own tried and tested pattern we can expect it to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro handsets later this year and we've been hearing rumors about them since before the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro went on sale last year. One of those rumors centered on talk of a new Capture button being added to the mix, and it's the buttons that are once again causing headlines.
That's because, according to a new supply chain report, Apple is set to change the way buttons work on the upcoming iPhones. There were rumors last year that the iPhone 15 would ditch its clicky buttons in favor of new capacitive ones that would react to being touched. The prospect immediately reminds me of the iPhone 7's Home button, not to mention the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro's non-moving trackpads. Ultimately, Apple decided to stick with its clicky buttons for the current wave of iPhones, but it's thought it may revisit capacitive buttons with its 2024 iPhone refresh.
That's based on information that Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, has picked up an order to produce the components required to make capacitive buttons work with Apple's Taptic Engine vibration motors — the motors that would simulate a click when a capacitive button is pressed.
