According to a new report, the iPhone 13 will once again get Touch ID, after Apple’s fingerprint reader was removed from the company’s premium smartphone models when the iPhone X was released in 2017.
The big and necessary change this time is that the Touch ID sensor will be installed under the screen, rather than in the Home button – because the iPhone 13, like its predecessors, won’t have a Home button. (It will have a power button, which is where the iPad Air 2020 keeps its fingerprint reader, but Apple doesn’t appear to be considering that option for the iPhone 13.)
Touch ID will also, we are told, be offered as a complement to Face ID rather than instead of it. This would be a handy alternative for those occasions when Face ID does not work, such as when the user is wearing a face mask.
The information comes from the Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern, who claims to have heard from a former Apple employee that the company is working with optical sensors for reading fingerprints directly through the screen.
Bear in mind that this isn’t a new theory. Similar claims were made earlier this month by Bloomberg and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and by Twitter leaker L0vetodream back in October. We also speculated about the Touch ID feature making a comeback under the screen based on patent activity late last year.
For the latest leaks and rumours, check out our regularly updated iPhone 13 news hub. And for bargains on the current range, visit our guide to the best iPhone deals.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
