iPhone 11 Could Ship With This Face ID Beating Tech

Damien McFerran 21/03/2019 – 8:46am

No more fooling your phone with a mask

For many of us, Touch ID was perfect. It meant that we could unlock our phones the moment we removed them from our pockets, and we could unlock them even when they're lying face-up on the table. That didn't stop Apple from unceremoniously dumping the tech when it launched the iPhone X, bringing in its 3D-scanning Face ID system.

Face ID may not be quite as accurate as Touch ID for some users, but there's no denying how impressive it is; it's not just looking at a photo, but a full 3D map of your face. It's pretty secure, but it can be fooled by things like masks – while this isn't something every criminal is going to do, it's still a security risk.

It seems that Apple wants to overcome this issue with new technology that doesn't scan your face, but the veins in your face. Called 'subepidermal imaging', the system uses a flood illuminator, speckle illuminator and a main camera sensor to determine who is looking at the phone based on the veins in their face – a pretty unique identifier.

We know that Apple is investigating this tech – which is also expected to launch in LG's G8 ThinQ later this year – via a series of patents which date back to 2018. Of course, there's no certainty that it will be included in the iPhone 11; patents are submitted all of the time, and don't always come to pass. However, the next iPhone is expected to be a big update on the XS (which was an iteration on the original iPhone X) so it would make sense for Apple to include fresh new technology in the device.

Indeed, this new 'Vein ID' would make the iPhone 11 one of the most secure devices on the planet – and this could prove to be a key selling point when the firm starts promoting its next big iPhone launch later this year.