Refusal of Touch ID, ‘anti-spy’ screens for MacBook and other devices: What innovations is Apple planning?

Apple is planning a number of innovations in the coming years: in a few years, the company will release a MacBook with a cellular module based on its own chip with a 5G modem. In addition, the company will abandon Touch ID and most likely introduce new devices with ‘antispy’ screens.

Refusal of Touch ID fingerprint scanners

Apple has stopped producing Touch ID fingerprint scanners for the iPhone and will no longer use them in its phones. This was reported by MacRumors, citing data from a Chinese insider from the integrated circuit industry on Weibo.

According to an insider, most of the equipment that the company used in the production of Touch ID chips for the iPhone has already been permanently disabled. This gives reason to believe that in the foreseeable future the company will stop using fingerprint scanners in smartphones. Most likely, the last smartphone to use Touch ID will be the third generation iPhone SE. And the fourth generation model, according to media reports, will use more advanced technology for biometric verification - Face ID.

According to some reports, Apple is working on an under-screen fingerprint scanner, but this technology will clearly appear no earlier than 2026. It is not yet known what the new technology will be called and how it will differ from Touch ID.

‘Anti-spy’ screens for devices

The company also plans to introduce new MacBooks with 'anti-spy' screens, which will be more difficult for outsiders to spy on. According to MacRumors, the viewing angle of current Apple devices is 170 degrees, and strangers can easily look into someone else's iPhone, iPad or Mac. Recently, however, Apple patented two solutions that allow you to limit the visibility of the devices' screens.

The first development is called “Protective Film for Curved Displays.” This is a special screen coating that limits the emission of light in one direction: thanks to it, the user who is directly in front of the screen will see an image with true resolution and brightness, while an outside observer from a different perspective will see either a dark screen , or a blurry image.

The second patent is called "Displays with adjustable viewing angles." The technology involves the use of screens with adjustable polarization - using both mechanical elements and a special liquid crystal element that limits the visibility of certain colors.

It should be noted that the presence of patents does not guarantee the implementation of the described technologies. Perhaps Apple will decide to implement them, but most likely this is unlikely to happen in the near future.