Neil Hughes
After launching next month on the iPhone X, Apple's Face ID technology will reportedly make its way to the iPad in 2018, potentially paving the way for the elimination of the home button on the company's touchscreen tablet.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who has a strong track record in predicting Apple's future product plans, said on Monday that he believes the iPad Pro lineup will be bolstered by the addition of a TrueDepth camera.
By bringing Face ID and facial recognition capabilities to more of the product lineup, developers will be encouraged to create more applications, further strengthening the company's ecosystem.
Kuo made no mention of design or form factor changes coming to the iPad in 2018, however. Accordingly, he did not say whether such an iPad would sport an OLED display, or ditch the home button, like the iPhone X.
However, Kuo did indicate over a year ago that he expected OLED panels will come to the iPad lineup in 2018. It was in that same report that Kuo correctly predicted three new iPads in early 2017, including a new 10.5-inch screen size for the smaller iPad Pro.
Beyond the iPad, Kuo has also predicted that all high-end iPhones in 2018 will sport Face ID login, replacing Touch ID. This year, Face ID remains exclusive to the iPhone X, and the technology is said to be the source of production bottlenecks ahead of the handset's launch in early November.
Assuming Apple is able to address those concerns by mid 2018, Apple could then be in a position to bring the TrueDepth camera and Face ID to other products like the iPad. The company employed a similar approach with Touch ID, introducing it first on the iPhone 5s and later in the iPad Air 2, before introducing it on the MacBook Pro in late 2016.
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36 Comments
He reportedly released a report last week indicating that they can't make the FaceID hardware fast enough to keep up with demand until the iPhone X is well into its product cycle next year. Where will the hardware come from to support it on iPads? New factories?
Face ID only allows one face to be registered where Touch ID allows many. that is, my wife and kids. The iPad is a device commonly used by many members of the house hold. But now all users except me must know the password to use it. How is this a step forward?
First question, and I am not sure we have an answer to this as of yet, can you unlock the phone with it oriented in any direction of can it only do it with top up so your face it oriented in the same directions.
Which leads me to the next things about the ipad, if it can not unlock in any orientation, i think this is going to be more problematic on the ipad since many time people have it turned sideway. if you have to have it orient in one direction to unlock this could be an issue for people.
Next, if Apple is black logged on the iPhone 10 due to this feature why would they add it to other products. It could be a while before it shows up on the ipad pro. but it an obvious direction apple is heading and it will most likely show up in the mac as well.
If iPad Pro says at 264ppi, it worthless to me!