Apple was just granted a patent for a touchscreen that reads fingerprints

By Christian de Looper February 18, 2017

Apple iPhone 7 — Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The iPhone’s home button could soon disappear — and could be replaced by a fingerprint scanner implemented into the device’s touchscreen. Apple has just been granted a patent for a virtual home button that would be placed within a touchscreen.

The patent itself was first spotted by AppleInsider, and was made public on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of such a move from Apple. In fact, rumors of a Home button replacement have been swirling around for some time, with the latest rumors even suggesting that we’ll see a MacBook Pro-style TouchBar replace the home button.

The Home button has long been a staple of the iPhone. Ever since the ground-breaking smartphone was first launched in 2007, that user-interface element has remained in the same spot — although its functionality has evolved over time to include a fingerprint sensor.

It’s important to note that just because Apple has been awarded a patent doesn’t mean we’ll see the Home button disappearing anytime soon; it just means Apple has been thinking about it. It would line up with rumors suggesting that the next iPhone’s screen will cover a much larger percentage of the front of the phone, however, leaving the Home button with nowhere to go except in the display itself.

That’s only one of the big hardware changes expected from the 10th-anniversary iPhone, which is to be launched later this year. Other anticipated features include a glass and steel body, a curved edge display, and even the long-awaited wireless charging.

Implementing the fingerprint scanner would likely use tech from LuxVue, a company that Apple acquired back in 2014. That tech comes in the form of micro-LEDs, which can be used as a replacement for capacitive touch arrays through the use of infrared diodes.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Christian de Looper

Contributor

Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

Mobile

Apple’s lead designer is leaving the company just three years after replacing Ive

Apple is facing a major departure from its corporate leadership as Evans Hankey, head of hardware design, announced that she will be leaving the role earlier this week. Hankey has been Apple's head of hardware design since 2019 and told colleagues that she will remain in her position for the next six months before her official departure in 2023. While people may be anxious to know who will be replacing her once she leaves, no successor has been named.

Hankey's departure marks a significant change in Apple's research and development department, especially because her time as head of hardware design was relatively brief when comparing it to Jony Ive , who held the position for 20 years before being replaced by her. Both Ive and Hankey have been responsible for shipping some of Apple's most iconic devices, so whoever steps up as the new department head will have quite the reputation to follow.

Mobile

I’m ready for an iPad with macOS — I’m just waiting on Apple to be

iPad Pro mockup running macOS.

Just over a year ago, Apple announced the next-gen iPad Pro packing the same M1 silicon as its computing brethren in the Mac lineup. With the move, Apple took a massive lead in the tablet ecosystem, redefining what that form factor can accomplish. But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. No sooner than the device was announced, fans started questioning whether it was overkill or just a future-proof move.

The latter doesn’t seem to be the case here, as Apple has already launched the successor with the new M2 chip inside. A small faction of Apple watchers, however, speculated that with an M-series chip inside the iPad, Apple might eventually port the macOS experience to its Pro tablets. Well, it looks like Apple is at least experimenting with the idea.

Mobile

Does the iPhone 14 have a fingerprint sensor? Here’s what happened to Touch ID

iPhone 14 laying in a succulent.

Apple made quite a stir nine years ago when it unveiled the iPhone 5s with Touch ID. It was the first time Apple had put a fingerprint sensor into an iPhone, and it redefined how folks interacted with their Apple mobile devices.

Gone was the hassle of keying in a passcode to secure your iPhone — or living without one just because it was too much trouble. Touch ID promised better security through convenience, and it quickly became a core feature of not just Apple’s iPhone lineup but also iPads, MacBooks, and eventually even an external iMac keyboard.