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.
“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.”
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.
