Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Waiting for Touch ID on a new iPhone? This report has some bad news

If you’re hoping for Touch ID to make a comeback on the next iPhone, we regret to inform you that won’t happen any time soon.

According to a report from the Power On newsletter (via 9to5Mac), Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote that Apple has been conducting tests to bring Touch ID back to flagship iPhones by implementing it as an in-screen feature and adding it to the power button. Despite testing both of those possibilities, the feature has not returned to the iPhone 14, and Gurman said he believes Touch ID won’t come back to the iPhone in any way, shape, or form, noting that Face ID is the better replacement.

Apple iPhone SE (2022) Touch ID button being used.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

“Over the past few years, there have been discussions within Apple about bringing Touch ID back to high-end iPhones,” he said. “The company has tested in-screen Touch ID and even contemplated putting it on the power button. At this point, Face ID is here to stay and Touch ID won’t be returning to flagship iPhones — at least anytime in the foreseeable future.”

Recommended Videos

Gurman suggested that although Touch ID won’t make its return to the most popular iPhones, it might come back on the future edition of the affordable iPhone SE. However, while that’s still available on the current model of the iPhone SE, he wrote that he hasn’t heard anything about Apple working it into the next one.

Touch ID keeping out of the iPhone 14 and its successors might make sense in the grand scheme of things. Face ID has done a much better job of logging people into their iPhones and making online purchases better than their fingerprints ever did. The MacBook and many iPad models don’t have Face ID, so Touch ID is best served on those devices.

Cristina Alexander
Gaming/Mobile Writer
Cristina Alexander is a gaming and mobile writer at Digital Trends. She blends fair coverage of games industry topics that…
The foldable iPhone could become a yearly staple for Apple
Semi-open state of a foldable iPhone concept

South Korean tech site ET News has released a report suggesting the foldable iPhone will get an annual refresh starting in 2026. It would replace the Pro Max as the top-of-the-line iPhone model and get updated every year just like the rest of the core lineup.

The launch date for the "iPhone Fold" is still up in the air -- so while ET News is betting on 2026, we don't know if that will turn out to be accurate or not. Either way, the hype around this rumored new model is continuing to build with every new leak we get.

Read more
Word of notch-less and bezel-less iPhone in 2027 is refusing to die down
The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max's screen.

In just two years, the world-dominating smartphone will celebrate its 20th anniversary -- and it looks like Apple has big plans for it. Reports from Bloomberg and The Information suggest the company is aiming for a curved and completely bezel-less display with no notches or cutouts for cameras or sensors.

We've already seen plenty of "curved" and "edge-to-edge" displays from manufacturers like Samsung, but current approaches only curve along the left and right edges of the device. Apple, on the other hand, reportedly wants to go all-in with a glass display that curves around all the edges and corners of the phone.

Read more
iPhone 18 Pro once again tipped for a significant design change
A locked iPhone, showing the lock icon at the top of the screen.

Apple is famous for the sleek, minimal design of its products, but sometimes functionality has to trump minimalism. That's been the case with the iPhone's Face ID system, which provides a very convenient and hands-free way to unlock your phone just by looking at it, but which requires a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the screen to work.

Now, though, it's looking like Apple may ditch the cutout but keep the Face ID unlock option by using detectors placed beneath the screen instead. This under-screen Face ID option would mean that only a small cutout would be required in one corner of the screen for the front-facing camera, so the pill cutout could be removed.

Read more