Apple May be Forced to Eliminate Touch ID in ‘iPhone 8’: Analyst

If Apple is unable to resolve issues with integrating the fingerprint sensor underneath the smartphone’s display, it may have no other option but to eliminate Touch ID all together from the upcoming OLED “iPhone 8”, according to research analyst Andy Hargreaves at Pacific Crest Securities (via MacRumors). The analyst also predicts a possible delay in iPhone 8’s production till Apple figures out a solution.

At this point, the analyst does not believe Apple’s optical fingerprint module provider has received firm orders for production, suggesting that the iPhone maker does not yet have functionality of the optical fingerprint sensor ready. He also claims that Apple has already evaluated and passed on Synaptics’ optical fingerprint solution.

Below is an excerpt from Hargreaves’ research note:

Likely options for Apple include a delay of production or elimination of fingerprint sensing on the OLED iPhone. We believe Apple continues to work on solving its optical fingerprint issues. If it’s able to solve the problems in the next month or so, it would likely place volume orders at that point. This would likely lead to a delay of the OLED iPhone launch, but we would not expect it to meaningfully affect volume for the cycle. If it’s not able to fix the problems in that time frame, Apple may be forced to eliminate fingerprint sensing from the OLED iPhone altogether.

The analyst also said that if Touch ID were to be removed in the iPhone 8, it would place significant pressure on unproven 3D sensing to replace the verification functionality that fingerprints currently provide.