iPhone 13 models ‘probably’ have a touch ID below the screen

According to Barclays’ curtain Andrew Gardiner, analyst Andrew Gardiner, a Barclays analyst and three of his colleagues, the iPhone 13 models will be released later this year.

In a research note shared with MacRumors today, analysts added that the iPhone 13 models will have a smaller notch and that the LiDAR scanner will remain limited to the iPhone 13 Pro models this year, according to information that shared by renowned Apple analyst Ming -Chi Kuo earlier this month. Barclays said its research is based at least in part on “extensive industry discussions” with suppliers over the past few weeks.

Analysts believe that a smaller notch on iPhone 13 models will be the result of a “more rigorously integrated version of the current structured lighting system” for Face ID, adding that a “larger shift” is likely in 2022 comes, with Apple apparently aiming to leverage a face-to-face architecture for Face ID that enables an “even smaller footprint”. This is in line with Kuo’s prediction that at least 2022 iPhones may have a hole screen, with only a small hole on the screen, like many of Samsung’s recent smartphones.

Here is the excerpt from the research note, with emphasis:

For the upcoming iPhone 13 cycle in 2H21, we provide a more rigorously integrated version of the existing structured lighting system, enabling the long-awaited decline in the notch. At the back, we do not expect Apple to expand the use of the Lidar 3D sensor beyond the Pro models.

For the 2H22 production cycle, we expect an architectural shift from structured light to flight time, enabling an even smaller footprint. Based on our industry discussions, we do not think that structured light under the screen is likely to be ready for mass deployment in 2H22. We are also considering the use of fingerprint-under-glass, which will likely be added to the 2H21 iPhones, as a structural headwind for additional 3D sensing content at Apple and could be the security feature of the future.

There has been talk several times about the return of Touch ID with a fingerprint scanner under the screen. In August 2019, Kuo said Apple plans to launch an iPhone with Face ID and a fingerprint scanner under the screen in 2021, but in its research note earlier this month, it does not mention that the feature of the iPhone 13 models is available.

Bloombergsee Mark Gurman and The Wall Street JournalJoanna Stern also claimed that Apple is at least testing a fingerprint scanner for iPhone 13 models so that time will tell whether the feature makes the cut.

Analysts at Barclays were the first to claim that Apple intended to stop including a charger with iPhones. In the past, they also accurately revealed that True Tone came to the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, removing the headphone jack adapter with the iPhone XS and iPhone XR models, and removing 3D Touch on all iPhone 11s. models.