Apple's facial recognition technology could also be incorporated into a new product in the near future.
The company will add its TrueDepth camera, which enables the iPhone X's facial recognition and talking emoji technology, to next year's iPad Pro, according to industry sources.
The prediction comes from KGI analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who has successfully predicted many of Apple's product moves in the past. According to Kuo, Apple plans to bring its TrueDepth facial recognition camera to more products in 2018.
As for tablets, Kuo predicts that the 2018 iPad Pro will be equipped with the said camera. He doesn't say whether Apple plans to change the tablet's design to accommodate the additional sensors, but Apple could incorporate the new hardware without adding the iPhone X's "notch" design.
Specifically, Kuo believes that Apple intends to keep this feature for the iPad Pro and not for the cheaper iPad Air or iPad Mini tablets. Given that the feature is currently limited to the iPhone X, which is expected to be released later this year, it suggests that Apple wants to continue to keep the TrueDepth camera as a more “premium” feature.
Kuo also predicts that all future iPhones will ditch TouchID and include Face recognition, starting next year in 2018. This means that iPhones should also feature TrueDepth cameras and likely not include a home button.
Either way, it looks like facial recognition is here to stay and could soon be hard to avoid – as terrible as that sounds.
