Mehdi Hosseini, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group has said that Apple is likely to do away with its fingerprint-recognition tool in the upcoming version of the iPhone. According to Hosseini approximately 90 million iPhone 8 units will be produced in this year’s second half. Instead of the fingerprint security option the device will instead use facial recognition technology.
“Checks also suggest that Apple has decided to remove the fingerprint option from the OLED model and instead stick with facial recognition,” wrote Hosseini in a client note.
OLED display
According to Hosseini about 50% of these smartphones will have an OLED display but by next year’s first quarter the number of iPhones with an OLED display being manufactured will be increased to 60%.
Apple’s decision to drop fingerprint-recognition has been motivated by a design issue and is not the fault of Samsung Display which is producing the OLED screens. Hosseini is not the only analyst to predict that Apple will ditch the fingerprint sensor as analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets have also said the same thing.
According to KeyBanc the 3D face scanner that will be used in the iPhone 8 for facial recognition will be in a position to identify the face of a user in fraction of a second. However, the KeyBanc analysts expect the development to have a negative impact on the Cupertino, California-based tech giant. The analysts are of the opinion that the absence of a fingerprint sensor will prove especially problematic for Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments platform.
Wireless charging
Other reports also indicate that while the upcoming iPhone will possess a wireless charging feature, it will also be possible to charge it using a cord. Consequently the wireless charging pad will be sold separately with a view to ensuring that the costs of iPhone 8 are kept down as there has been indications that it might turn out to be the most expensive version ever with some speculation indicating it could cost as much as $1200.
Reports over the wireless charging pad being sold separately first appeared on Weibo, a Chinese social media site. It is expected that the iPhone 8 will be launched early next month.
