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Under-screen Face ID camera after 2026 – supply-chain report
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by Anoop Singh
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![Under-screen Face ID | 9to5Mac render of later all-screen design](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Under-screen-Face-ID.webp?w=1600)
A new supply-chain report suggests that we could see an under-screen Face ID camera in the iPhone “after 2026,” using technology developed by LG Innotek.
It’s likely that the tech would initially be used for Face ID only, but would be a stepping stone toward a later true all-screen design, with the front-facing camera similarly embedded beneath the screen …
Apple’s ‘single slab of glass’ vision
It’s long been taken as read that Apple’s long-term vision for the iPhone is “a single slab of glass.” That is, a device whose entire front face would be nothing but display.
The barrier to this is, of course, all the tech which Apple needs to embed into the display – top speaker (for voice calls), proximity sensor, Face ID array (dot emitter and camera), and front-facing camera.
Currently, Apple fits the top speaker into a near-invisible slit in the bezel. Everything else is embedded into the Dynamic Island.
Apple has multiple patents intended to pull all of these things behind the screen. Technically, all of it could be done today – even an under-screen front-facing camera was demonstrated as long ago as 2019. But there are just too many compromises at present, especially for a device which is heavily marketed on its capabilities as a camera.
Under-screen Face ID camera ‘after 2026’
This is less challenging than the front-facing camera because the camera only needs to be good enough to see the reflected light from the infrared dot projector. So long as the camera can read the 3D shape of the face accurately, all is good.
This is why Apple will almost certainly be able to move the Face ID camera beneath the display before it can do the same with the selfie camera. The next step, then, would be to move from the Dynamic Island to a punch-hole camera design.
A new supply-chain report from TheElec says that Apple is set to introduce this “after 2026,” which would imply not before the iPhone 19 in 2027.
LG Innotek has entered the preliminary development of an ‘underpanel camera’ (UPC) where camera lens holes are not visible. It is presumed to be intended to prepare for the implementation of the Apple iPhone full screen. The launch of Apple’s iPhone with UPC is expected after 2026 […]
Apple plans to apply the underpanel face ID to the front of the iPhone prior to applying the UPC.
It says that Apple has evaluated competing tech from another supplier (likely to be Samsung), and not been satisfied with the quality – implying that it was more impressed with what LG had to offer.
Under-screen selfie camera later
Given the difference in quality thresholds, Apple is not expected to move the selfie camera beneath the display until the tech is significantly more advanced. It’s previously been suggested that this would be two years after in-display Face ID.
9to5Mac’s Take
Under-display Face ID and front-facing cameras are one of those recurring rumors, dating back to at least the iPhone 14 – and TheElec is notable for how frequently it predicts that we’re almost there.
In March of last year, for example, it predicted the tech would debut in the iPhone 15 Pro, using Samsung tech. In January of this year, it moved the goalposts to the iPhone 16 Pro. To be fair to the publication, both Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and display analyst Ross Young had also indicated that 2024 might be the year.
It’s pretty much a certainty that Apple will adopt under-display camera tech for both Face ID and the front-facing camera, and that embedded Face ID will happen first. What’s far less clear is when each will happen.
TheElec is now being more cautious by implying that the iPhone 19 is the earliest point at which we’ll see it. Given how often this has been predicted in the past, a longer rather than shorter timescale feels more credible.
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A new supply-chain report suggests that we could see an under-screen Face ID camera in the iPhone “after 2026,” using technology developed by LG Innotek. It’s likely that the tech would initially be used for Face ID only, but would be a stepping stone toward a later true all-screen design, with the front-facing camera similarly…
A new supply-chain report suggests that we could see an under-screen Face ID camera in the iPhone “after 2026,” using technology developed by LG Innotek. It’s likely that the tech would initially be used for Face ID only, but would be a stepping stone toward a later true all-screen design, with the front-facing camera similarly…