This article is from WeChat official account:ZEALER (ID: zealertech), author: ZEALER, from the head of FIG: visual China

For us who are still in the pandemic, unlocking the iPhone at this time has become a cumbersome task: either enter the password or remove the mask. It takes two to three seconds or even longer before and after. Users are tortured in the hot summer or cold winter.

In contrast, Android phone users are much more comfortable. The screen fingerprint can be unlocked with one touch, and this feature is also popularized on thousands of yuan phones. The learning cost is low, and the unlocking method is not hindered by time and place. Compared to Face ID, which must be aimed at the face, it is obviously much more reliable.

Many people don’t hesitate to replace the iPhone 11 Pro Max in their hands and switch to the iPhone SE for the Touch ID a few years ago. The fingerprint recognition that can be unlocked by hand brings not only convenience, but also an inexplicable security sense.

Looking back on the Touch ID many years ago, it seems that it is not much inferior to the Face ID that Apple has promoted.

Touch ID to Face ID

The earliest mobile phone with fingerprint recognition is of course not the iPhone. It is a prototype from the joint development of Siemens and Bromba in 1998, using scratch fingerprint recognition, but its use is very limited, and finally it has not been mass-produced. .

The first mass-produced fingerprint recognition mobile phone appeared in 2000. It was developed by SAGE in France.Researched and developed by M company. Although this company has withdrawn from the mobile phone market, this MC 959 has been recorded in history. It uses STMicroelectronics technology and fingerprints can be used to verify PIN codes.

Followingly, HandSpring also launched a PDA with fingerprint recognition, which successfully attracted the attention of the business market and other market segments to fingerprint recognition. Compared with traditional passwords, fingerprint recognition has higher security Sex, this is a very important feature for users who value privacy.

In the following few years, manufacturers have successively launched their own fingerprint recognition mobile phones. IBM, HP, Fujitsu, Pantech, Casio, Lenovo, Samsung, etc. have several models with their own fingerprint recognition, But at that time, the functions that fingerprint recognition could achieve were very limited, and it only sold well in Japan and could not expand to the mass market.

Even later smart phones such as the Motorola Atrix MB860 in 2011 were also equipped with fingerprint recognition, but it was soon cancelled in subsequent models, without a sufficiently powerful system to pave the way, so-called privacy is still empty talk.

In 2013, the iPhone 5s was released. The biggest highlight of this phone is that the Home button on the front integrates fingerprint recognition, namely Touch ID, instead of using the old sliding style, it has been upgraded to The new push type, not only that, Touch ID can also be combined with Apple Pay, PayPal, Alipay and other apps to escort the increasingly widespread mobile payment. In the following years, the iPhone’s standard Touch ID has become a rationale. What should be.

This trend has also spread to Android phones. Apple’s effective method is to do front-press fingerprint recognition, and some learn HTC to find another way to do post-fingerprint recognition.Flagship phones ranging from four to five thousand yuan to entry-level phones down to a few hundred yuan all use fingerprint recognition.

Following is the advent of the full-screen era. Apple switched to Face ID on the iPhone X in 2017, which is 3D face recognition. Android wants to continue learning. However, third-party App manufacturers do not cooperate and adapt to payment software. There are a lot of ups and downs, coupled with the extremely high cost, just like the niche iris recognition, it quickly disappears in the vast sea of ​​opportunities.

At this time, a brand new screen fingerprint recognition appeared, replacing the capacitive type with an optical type. It took over the banner of biometrics and became the first choice for most Android phones. Since then, ultrasonic fingerprint recognition has appeared, which is characterized by wet hands. Can also be unlocked.

In the three years of earth-shaking, Apple has persisted in Face ID as always. Even the size of the bangs has not changed. Although it is somewhat conservative, it has not become its shortcoming due to its high degree of reliability.

But everything was broken after the outbreak. Since everyone needs to wear a mask, unlocking the iPhone in his hand becomes a problem. Either enter the password or open the cover. The former is time-consuming, while the latter carries the risk of infection. Unable to retreat to the password unlocking of the iPhone 2G era, Face ID is useless, and many people have a lot of criticism of Apple.

From iPhone 2G to iPhone 5s, from iPhone X to iPhone 2G, probably this is the so-called more progress, the more backward.

“environmentally friendly” apple

Faced with these problems, what has Apple done? Well, Apple did nothing.

To be precise, Apple only pushed the iOS 13.5 update in May. In addition to adding the “Exposure Notification” API, it is the iPWhen hone detects that the user is wearing a mask, it can enable password unlock more quickly…

By the way, Apple also designed the Apple Face Mask for its employees. The scalpers have been selling at sky-high prices. KOLs have also made a wave of evaluations and made a wave of popularity. Besides, it is really hard to think of Apple in the epidemic What has been done for hundreds of millions of Face ID users seems to have neglected this issue intentionally or unintentionally.

Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 12 series released in October last year still used Face ID, but added 5G and a right-angle design that returned to the original heart. At the end of 2020, when the epidemic did not slow down, Apple advertised itself as It’s ironic that an environmental protection company is proud to cancel the charging head and accessories.

So has Apple considered the return of Touch ID?

The answer is yes. Touch ID was added to the latest iPad Air released in September last year, but it did not continue the home button tradition, but chose to integrate with the power button, which is the side fingerprint recognition that we often see on Sony phones before. . It is important to know that Apple’s new technology may be tested on the iPad. For example, the 2020 iPad Pro is the first to be equipped with LiDAR sensors, and then the hardware has been popularized on the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max.

It is nowhere to be seen on the iPhone 12, so everyone has put their hopes on the new iPhone in 2021. According to the prediction of the previous Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, there will be two ways to implement Touch ID for the iPhone in the future: one is and the new iPad Air is similar, adopting the design of power button integrated fingerprint recognition, which is probably the iPhone SE Plus; the other is the current screen fingerprint recognition of Android phones, which is probably the iPhone 12s or iPhone 13 series.

Bloomberg’s recent report also supports this point. It said that although the design has not changed much, Apple is testing the Touch ID fingerprint reader in the screen, that is, the follow-up iPhone may use Face ID and Touch. ID parallel use strategy.

Considering that the current iPhone has a small battery capacity, coupled with the cost issue, Touch ID is likely to be the same as the 120Hz refresh rate, which is only carried on the Pro model, and the relationship with the two cheaper models is probably Not big.

And the solution is only at the design stage, and it does not rule out the possibility that it will be launched in the next year. Before that, everyone has to use a password to unlock. Until some day of uncertainty, Face ID is finally familiar with you. Mask face…

Speaking of this, some people may have been slandering: what’s wrong with entering an extra six-digit password? You are hypocritical. When there was no fingerprint recognition before, why didn’t I see you calling? If you are not satisfied, buy an Android phone.Stand by.

At this time, please recall Nokia’s classic “people-oriented technology”. What exactly should mobile phone manufacturers pursue?

It’s not always “environmental protection”, right?

This article is from WeChat official account:ZEALER (ID: zealertech), author: ZEALER