Apple iPad With Face ID Hinted At In iOS 12 Beta
Apple launched the iPhone X in September along with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The iPhone X was a major departure from Apple’s design philosophy and introduced us to Face ID. While Face ID was received with some scepticism in the beginning, however, it has ably replaced Touch ID and the company plans to phase out the fingerprint sensor in all its iOS devices. This means that future iPads will also launch with Face ID, which has been seemingly confirmed in iOS 12.
iOS 12 beta was made available to users right after the first day of WWDC 2018. iOS developer Guilherme Rambo, during his usual poking around in iOS 12 found something interesting pertaining to Face ID and iPads. Rambo tweeted videos and screenshots of iOS 12 that contain hidden references to Face ID on the iPad, including the setup UI and relevant section of the settings menu.
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The Face ID setup UI is finally working on iPad. Clearly not done yet as can be seen by the descriptions mentioning "iPhone". But it's a start :) pic.twitter.com/PVQgfbne15
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) June 5, 2018
It is worth noting that these references could pertain to a feature that lets users unlock their iPads using the iPhone X. If true, this will be similar to the feature wherein users can unlock their Mac using the Apple Watch. However, there has been enough evidence that suggests that Face ID is coming to iPads and with iOS 12, it could be as soon as late-2018. In December 2017, Apple announced a US$ 390 million investment in Finisar, a facial recognition technology company.
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Finisar will use the funds to build a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Texas to develop vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) chips. Jeff Williams, CEO at Apple had said:
VCSELs power some of the most sophisticated technology we’ve ever developed and we’re thrilled to partner with Finisar over the next several years to push the boundaries of VCSEL technology and the applications they enable.
It is evident that Apple believes Face ID is the future. Apart from the iPhone SE 2, all 2018 iPhones are rumoured to feature the facial recognition technology. With iPads being the only major player in the tablets industry, Apple would want to move ahead of any sort of little competition it has in that space. With Face ID coming to iPads, it also means that there will be a uniformity in all iOS devices in the future.
Whether this means the upcoming iPads will thin bezels like the iPhone X is yet to be seen. With larger devices, you need bezels around the display to hold them and not be prone to accidental touches. The Face ID sensors could easily fit into the top bezel of an iPad.
