The rumor mill is already churning about the Apple iPhone X Plus, the larger sibling of the existing iPhone X, but before we get too excited about what’s to come, we may want to take a closer look at what we already have. Apple has admitted that one of the most hyped features on its newest smartphones — Face ID — isn’t working properly for everyone. And apparently, the company has already issued instructions to its stores and authorized service providers on how to repair (or in some cases fully replace) non-functional devices. But what’s most curious about the repair process is that it involves a part of the phone that has nothing to do with Face ID at all — the rear camera.
As BGR notes, the TrueDepth camera system is responsible for Face ID on the iPhone X, but this technology actually lives within the mobile device’s notch. Regardless, Apple’s official instructions require specialists to first conduct a rear camera repair, running AST 2 on the device for a diagnostics test on the camera. If the test identifies a problem, specialists are then asked to perform the necessary repair and see if it addresses the Face ID issue. If not, Apple is asking for a “whole unit replacement” rather than a same-unit display repair.
While we still don’t know how the rear and front camera might be linked, it seems that a problem with the dual-lens camera found on the back of the iPhone could somehow create a problem for Face ID. Luckily, it appears that the Face ID issue isn’t all that widespread among iPhone X users, though if you are one of the folks affected by the bug, you should head over to the Apple Store or an authorized repair shop to get things checked out.
This latest problem comes just a few days after Apple acknowledged that iOS 11.3 and iOS 11.3.1 have created significant problems for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Apparently, some of these handsets have had issues with their microphones during calls and during FaceTime conversations. This is especially concerning because the fix isn’t a software issue — rather, you’ll need to actually take your phone into the store for a hardware repair.
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