Apple has filed a series of patents over the years relating to different approaches to delivering Under-Display Touch ID. Today Apple was granted yet another patent relating to this technology that introduces a different approach.
Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to a future HMD configured to detect eye movements within an eye-tracking system. Gaze estimation can also be used for eye gesture recognition and to provide inputs to various user interfaces, such as to select or switch between settings, and to provide input shortcuts.
Apple has been working on a Touch ID system designed to be set under the display since at least 2013 (patent published in 2015). We ve covered a series of patents since then (01, 02, 03, 04, 05 and 06). Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first predicted that this feature would emerge in 2022 and then changed it again to it emerging in 2023. While we await this feature to arrive in a future iPhone, today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple yet another patent relating to Touch ID under the display that focuses on the use of "shortwave infrared" technology.
Earlier this morning Patently Apple posted a supply chain report claiming that Apple s first iPhone with an under display Face ID camera was likely to surface in the 2025-2026 timeline. Coincidentally, Apple was granted yet another patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office regarding this next-gen feature that could do away with their Dynamic Island on a number of iPhone models.
Apple has been working on an iPhone functioning under water for years now. Patently Apple has covered one for iPhone GUIs with Special Wet Modes and another covering an Underwater mode to allow users to take photos and videos while snorkeling+. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to a future iPhone having an optical touch sensor that is insensitive to the presence of moisture .