The possibility of an in-screen fingerprint sensor inside Apple’s next flagship phone has made it one of the most discussed gadgets of 2017, and the game of ‘will it, won’t it?’ continues with a well-respected and oft-reliable Apple analyst stepping in to comment.
Word flying from the rumour mill for the past few months has suggested the phone will shed the familiar Home button and opt for a virtual one instead that will double as a fingerprint sensor. But in a new report, analyst for KGI Ming-Chi Kuo has cast doom over the idea of an in-screen display for the forthcoming iPhone 8.
Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple’s OLED flagship won’t feature capacitive fingerprint recognition because of a number of “technical challenges”. They include the requirement for a more complex panel pixel design, and the difficulty in scanning through an OLED panel despite it being even thinner than an LCD panel.
For Apple fans hoping for fingerprint recognition, the good news is that Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t necessary jettison the idea of one appearing somewhere else on the phone – which means it could still appear on the back beside the camera, just like on the Samsung Galaxy S8.
While Ming-Chi Kuo’s insight might usually be taken as gospel, Apple hasn’t yet broken its silence on the matter, so it’s not entirely naïve to live in hope.
Related: iPhone 7 Plus
Will the iPhone 8 still hold its own without an in-screen fingerprint sensor? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.