APPLE

Face ID: the iPhone 17 Pro will frankly innovate

Apple has started to change the design of its iPhones, gradually abandoning the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island. The transformation began with the iPhone 14 Pro from 2022 but it should extend to all models with the iPhone 15 series this year.

The modular double punch houses the front photo sensor for Face Time and the TrueDepth sensor necessary for the proper functioning of advanced facial recognition Face ID.

Rumor has it that this specific sensor will soon go under the screen and this development was anticipated on theiPhone 16 Pro next year. However, analyst Ross Young from screen technology research firm DSCC suggests that it will actually only be available with the 2025 iPhone 17 Pro series, followed a year later by the non-iPhone 17 Pro series.

A delicate integration...The lag would come from sensor integration problems requiring longer work. The Face ID facial recognition placed under the screen should therefore take longer than expected, but the photo sensor would still remain visible in a punch.

The sensors under the screen are subject to particular constraints, and in particular the quantity of light managing to pass through the various materials making up the screen.

Technologies have improved on this point in recent years, but under-screen photo sensors retain certain weaknesses by producing slightly hazy shots that can be corrected in post-processing, not without losing a lot of naturalness.

Everything under screen from 2027...Despite everything, Apple could end up offering an iPhone hiding both the Face ID module and the FaceTime photo sensor under the screen from 2027leaving only a smooth front face.

At the same time, ProMotion technology and adaptive 120Hz screen refresh should remain the preserve of Pro versions of the iPhone for some time to come.

Analyst Ross Young indeed suggests that it is only with the iPhone 17 that these technologies will be offered on the non-Pro versions.

Source: GNT – Actualités