Face ID is Coming to All the iPhone & iPad Pro Series Next Year, Says Report

Apple is set to bring the next-generation security system for its devices. The new face recognition system will move beyond the pattern and fingerprint sensing to unlock your smartphone by just looking at it. The company will debut this technology with the hyped iPhone X, launched on November 3. Now, Apple’s new insider industry source, Ming-Chi Kuo, revealed that Apple intends to expand this technology to another range of devices like the iPad.

This new technology of Apple features a ‘Face ID’ to which it compares your face to unlock the device. Apple claims it is handled by its “neural engine,” which prevents hackers and thieves (and your friends) from tricking the system. While this technology is not new, Apple is the first to do a three-dimensional scan on a handheld device. Last month, Apple released a technical white paper on Face ID security. It revealed how the Face ID works by creating a partial version to compare against future prints. It also revealed the Face ID would update its database by occasionally pulling images from successful login photos. So, Face ID knows when you get a new style. These data will not go into the cloud and remain on your smartphone only.

The white paper included –To improve unlock performance and keep pace with the natural changes of your face and look, Face ID augments its stored mathematical representation over time. Upon successful unlock, Face ID may use the newly calculated mathematical representation — if its quality is sufficient — for a finite number of additional unlocks before that data is discarded. Conversely, if Face ID fails to recognize you, but the match quality is higher than a certain threshold and you immediately follow the failure by entering your passcode, Face ID takes another capture and augments its enrolled Face ID data with the newly calculated mathematical representation. This new Face ID data is discarded after a finite number of unlocks and if you stop matching against it. These augmentation processes allow Face ID to keep up with dramatic changes in your facial hair or makeup use while minimizing false acceptance. You can find the white paper here.

Ming-Chi Kuo further stressed that Apple wants to improve its new technology to incorporate into other models. He also said the next year’s iPhone would include the same technology with the dot matrix projector and infrared camera, which emits 30,000 infrared beams onto a face, without any significant changes. The iPad will also get this biometric security system, the iPad Pro being the first one. Mingshi predicts Apple will have 2 to 3 million iPhone handsets available on launch and 25 to 30 million for the holiday quarter.