Apple could finally bring Face ID under the screen to the iPhone 16 Pro. According to a Korean media report the elect (via MacRumors), the technology used for Face ID will live directly below the screen, blending in with the rest of the screen once it’s turned on and revealing only the front camera cutout.
The reason it hasn’t happened before is that the technology for under-display technology doesn’t exist yet, and that has become apparent with the other phone companies that have tried to incorporate under-display cameras, like ZTE. As my colleague Allison Johnson points out in her review of the ZTE Axon 40, the quality of the under-display camera offers some improvements over ZTE’s first attempt, but it’s still not the best.
Samsung has also experimented with under-display cameras, and even this big-name smartphone maker can’t get it quite right. It first added the feature to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but the camera is still noticeable even when the screen is on and takes low-quality images to boot. While the Galaxy Z Fold 4 features some incremental improvements that hide the camera a bit better under the screen, it still takes paltry 4-megapixel photos.
However, Face ID is obviously different than your traditional selfie camera. It uses its TrueDepth infrared camera to map and analyze your face, and that makes the technological challenge even more difficult. Apple can’t ship an iPhone with Face ID where the IR camera has trouble identifying your face when you try to unlock your phone or pay with Apple Pay.
According to the elect, Apple plans to eventually expand this technology to include the regular selfie camera, not just the Face ID IR camera, but also under the display. This could eliminate the notch entirely, as Apple will no longer need a cutout in the display to house both the Face ID components and the camera hole. It’s unclear when Apple will manage to do this, but Young doesn’t expect it until at least the iPhone 18 Pro in 2026.
