Apple plans to "cut off the bangs" within two years and adopt full-screen fingerprint recognition

Apple is trying to reduce the notch on its iPhone series, and at least one of the new iPhones coming in 2020 will feature a smaller front-facing camera, according to a new report today from longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Guo Mingchi is not the only one who made this claim. China Times, a website that focuses on Apple's industry chain, quoted Su Houhe, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Asia, as saying that Apple plans to launch a new iPhone without bangs or face recognition in 2020. The analyst believes that the iPhone will use an under-screen front camera and full-screen ultrasonic fingerprint recognition.

The analyst believes that by 2021, all three new iPhones will completely get rid of the bangs and complete the transition to under-screen fingerprint recognition.

In fact, many Android phones are now equipped with under-screen fingerprint recognition, but according to industry chain insiders, the under-screen fingerprint used by Apple on the iPhone will be full-screen. In addition, Apple may develop its own under-screen fingerprint recognition technology instead of relying on third-party suppliers - these are two key points: Now the Android camp must place fingers on a fixed recognition area on the screen and cannot operate blindly, and most manufacturers' under-screen fingerprint components are provided by the Chinese company Goodix Technology.

Currently, many Android phones are equipped with under-screen fingerprints, but the recognition area is limited to a small area on the screen.

So according to this statement, a clearer product planning timeline might look like this:

2019: All three new iPhones have facial recognition and bangs;

2020: Two iPhones will feature facial recognition technology, but with smaller notches; a new iPhone with full-screen fingerprint recognition may also appear;

2021: All three iPhones will feature full-screen fingerprint recognition.

In fact, last week, there were reports that Apple would launch a new iPhone with under-screen fingerprint technology, which would only be supplied to the highly competitive Chinese market; because the cost of non-full-screen under-screen fingerprint technology is currently lower than that of Face ID sensors, making such an iPhone would help reduce costs. Although we think this is unlikely.

In addition to Guo Mingchi and Su Houhe, analysts at Barclays also said after a meeting with Apple's Asian supply chain in May that the 2020 iPhone will use ultrasonic fingerprint recognition, which can support full-screen recognition. Currently, the most well-known product using this recognition technology is the Samsung S10. Compared with optical fingerprint recognition, this technology is not affected by light and can recognize even dirty hands, but the supplier is single and the cost is high.

Although the experience is similar to optical fingerprint, ultrasonic fingerprint is a different principle.

Looking back, when the iPhone X released in 2017 adopted the "bangs" screen, it was ridiculed by many users and mobile phone manufacturers, who thought that this design was too ugly. However, in the following two years, most of those who ridiculed it had to use this design because the "bangs" was already the optimal solution combining 3D facial recognition and design direction.

Someone once made a picture like this to express his resentment towards bangs

In the following year, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers led the development of under-screen fingerprint recognition. Currently, optical under-screen fingerprint recognition has almost become a standard feature of Android phones, but due to technical reasons, it can only be recognized on a fingernail-sized space on the screen. Although some manufacturers have claimed that they will adopt full-screen recognition technology, there has been no follow-up.

For these current rumors, we should still be skeptical before the new iPhone is officially released. After all, it is still early, and technology is constantly improving, so the so-called "product plan" may change accordingly.