iPhone 16 series may be available with built-in facial recognition feature: details

Apple has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a next-generation feature that could replace Dynamic Island on a number of iPhone models. The notch design was introduced with the iPhone X, the Dynamic Island with the iPhone 14 Pro, while the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to feature an embedded Face ID element just below the display. Although Apple has had patents for Embedded Face ID for several years and there has been speculation that the technology would be included in this year’s iPhone 15, it seems unlikely to happen this year.

According to the patent ApplicationFirst sighted by Patently Apple, the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple noted that the new invention will include a display with a front and a back. Multiple pixel areas emit light from the front surface to display an image and multiple apertures carry light from the front surface to the back surface comprising the display.

This Apple-proposed device includes a camera mounted on one side of the back of the display. The camera is set up to record a captured image. A processor is connected to the display and the camera in the device. In order to minimize image distortion caused by the display, the processor is arranged to accept the captured image and apply a first digital filter to the first part of the captured image and a second digital filter, different from the first digital filter, to the second part of the captured image.

Display analyst Ross Young called that this embedded Face ID feature will likely arrive with the iPhone 16 in 2024.

On the other hand, after a analysis by Ming-Chi Kuo, the item would be limited to iPhone 16 Pro models. This is in line with Apple’s growing policy of widening the differences between the base and Pro models, particularly when it comes to display tech. For example, the base models in the iPhone 14 lineup retained the notch display, while the Pro models received the Dynamic Island.

Kuo’s claims were supported by a report featured on Korean news site The Elec, which claimed embedded facial recognition will be limited to Pro models next year before making its way into base models in 2025.