Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:
> Last week, Apple released the first build of the upcoming HomePod’s firmware, allowing curious developers to unpack the code and learn a few additional details about the smart speaker. Now, developer Steve Troughton-Smith has discovered code that seemingly confirms that the upcoming iPhone will support face unlock…
>
> Smith explains that the code indicates the existence of infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit, which is the framework responsible for Touch ID. The code further suggests that Apple’s face unlock feature will be able to detect partially occluded face and faces from various angles. The codename for the project Pearl ID.
Here’s the Tweet that confirms infra-red face unlock:
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/891841607728844801
And this one shows off the bezel-less form factor:
Very interesting. The reaction to this seems to be, the release of this specific information was not intentional. Hope this doesn’t cost someone their job. None of this is truly new information, more slightly more of a confirmation of what was already known.
Apple has leaked upcoming release information via binaries for years. At some point they’re going to have to learn how to branch and merge.
How is that bezel-less? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills
Yeah, it’s more less-bezel than bezel-less. 🙂
Well, its about as bezel-less as we can possibly get, without embedding the earpiece and front sensors directly into the display panel. Basically, edge to edge display, eliminating the forehead and chin. And the earpiece strip is blended into the display, making it look as if its part of the software status bar.
Thats about as bezel-less as it gets today. And I like how some actual thought was put into it, blurring the line between hardware and software. Rather than just minimizing bezels, without much other design consideration.
Oh lord, please tell me Apple isn’t borrowing Essential’s ill-designed bezel-less screen. Because that iconography looks an awful lot like it has the same “screen with a useless weird dead section in the middle” approach.
I kind of hate when information like this gets leaked. I really don’t need to know about it sooner than release, for the same reasons I didn’t need to hear “Luke, I am your father” before I first saw “Empire Strikes Back.”