Does the iPhone 14 have a fingerprint sensor?

Apple caused quite a stir nine years ago when they unveiled the iPhone 5s with Touch ID. It was the first time Apple had put a fingerprint sensor into an iPhone, and it redefined how people interacted with their Apple mobile devices.

Gone was the hassle of entering a passcode to secure your iPhone – or living without one just because it was too much trouble. Touch ID promised better security through convenience, and it quickly became a core feature of not only Apple’s iPhone lineup, but also iPads, MacBooks, and eventually even an external iMac keyboard.

However, it’s also clear that Touch ID was just a step along the way. Although it was far more convenient than entering a passcode every time you wanted to use your iPhone, Apple came up with a better way. In 2017, the company unveiled the iPhone X with a full-screen display that left no room for a Touch ID home button. Instead, an all-new front camera and sensor array delivered highly accurate 3D facial recognition, and Face ID was born.

iPhone 14 doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor – but that’s OK

Since then, Face ID has been the only biometric authentication system used on all mainstream iPhone models, including the entire iPhone 14 series. It is no fingerprint sensor on all versions of iPhone 14. Whether you buy iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max, you will only find Face ID – no Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

While Apple could have moved the fingerprint sensor to the side button, as it has done on the iPad Air and iPad Mini, it’s clear that Apple doesn’t see the need for more than one biometric authentication system. Touch ID is required on mid-tier iPad models because they lack Face ID; the high-end iPad Pro has a design very similar to the iPad Air, but since it has Face ID, there is no need for a Touch ID sensor.

It seems that Apple prefers to stick with Face ID on its high-end phones and tablets, only falling back to Touch ID fingerprint sensors in those products where it has to cut corners to make them more affordable. Face ID is a premium feature that works incredibly well for most iPhone owners, and Apple doesn’t want to dilute the elegance of Face ID by adding a fingerprint sensor to the mix.

Fingerprint sensors on the screen

While Apple bet everything on Face ID, rival smartphone makers instead looked for ways to put the fingerprint sensor under the screen to eliminate the need for a physical button.

Over the past few years, many rumors have suggested that Apple is also working on in-display fingerprint sensors. However, none of these have ever come to fruition in an actual product.

Speculation about how Apple would go about this has run the gamut. Since the components needed to power Face ID are relatively expensive, some early reports suggested that Apple would adopt on-screen Touch ID to create a more affordable iPhone model for emerging markets. Others suggested that Apple would instead add on-screen Touch ID as an alternative to Face ID to give customers a choice of their preferred biometric technology.

Rumors of a new iPad Air that began circulating in early 2020 pointed to a redesign based on the 2018 iPad Pro, with an edge-to-edge display but without the Face ID camera system. Many believed that Apple would use this new fourth-generation iPad Air to debut its first in-display fingerprint sensor. Instead, we got an iPad Air with a Touch ID sensor built into the side button.

In early 2021, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was testing “an in-display fingerprint reader” to be added as an alternative to Face ID on the iPhone 13. Apple didn’t run with it for whatever reason, and in early 2022, we started hearing reports of that Apple had shelved the idea of ​​an on-screen fingerprint sensor for the foreseeable future.

There is little doubt that Apple has been working on developing on-screen fingerprint sensor technology. Apple tries out a lot of different things, many of which never see the light of day. We may never find out all the details of why in-display Touch ID hasn’t caught on, but the most likely answer is that it simply didn’t meet Apple’s standards for reliability, performance or cost.

Face ID is the future

Face ID wasn’t just a compromise to get rid of the home button on the redesigned iPhone X. After all, Apple could have easily figured out another place to put the Touch ID sensor.

Instead, Face ID was Apple’s way of ushering in the next generation of iPhones. The iPhone X didn’t just look different; it changed the game in many other ways, from the TrueDepth camera that powered Face ID and Animoji to an all-new gesture-based user interface.

Unlike the weaker facial recognition systems on rival smartphones that can be fooled by a photograph, Face ID was designed to be highly secure by using an infrared scanner to build a three-dimensional depth map of the user’s face. Face ID can sometimes mistake similar-looking close family members—a random problem that Apple acknowledges—but it’s significantly harder to deliberately fool Face ID. The folks at Wired spent thousands of dollars and hours of effort creating professional prosthetic face masks in a failed attempt to fool Face ID.

It’s much harder to bypass than Touch ID, which can be fooled by creating a sophisticated latex mold from someone’s fingerprint. But even that is not a procedure for the faint of heart. If you’re dealing with people who will go to great lengths to get into the iPhone, it’s fair to say you have problems that consumer technology isn’t designed to solve.

Apple has invested heavily in its Face ID system, and it continues to do so. One of the most compelling arguments for adding Touch ID to modern iPhones came during the COVID-19 pandemic when people masked themselves. Apple’s solution to this was not to fall back on Touch ID, but to make Face ID even better.

Today, people with any Face ID-equipped iPhone can use their Apple Watch to unlock their iPhone while masked, and those with an iPhone 12 or newer don’t even need an Apple Watch, thanks to improvements made earlier this year in iOS 15.4. Although masks are no longer mandatory in many places, these features are still a boon for people in healthcare and other professions where masking is part of the job.

Still want a fingerprint sensor? Try this iPhone instead

Face ID is an excellent way to authenticate to your iPhone. It’s practically invisible most of the time, working in the background to unlock apps and autofill passwords from iCloud Keychain. In fact, Face ID is so seamless that Apple requires you to double-tap the home button when using Apple Pay or purchasing apps because it would otherwise be too easy to accidentally spend money.

Still, Face ID isn’t for everyone, and there are still situations where Touch ID is more convenient. This is especially true if you want to unlock your iPhone without looking at it, for example when making contactless payments with Apple Pay. Furthermore, as amazing as the new mask-aware Face ID features are, they still don’t work through full-face masks, ski goggles, or polarized sunglasses.

Fortunately, Apple’s wallet-friendly iPhone SE still includes Touch ID, along with the classic home button design used by older iPhone models. This works the same way it always has, with the Touch ID sensor in the home button, and the current third-generation iPhone SE has an A15 chip that’s almost identical to the one found in this year’s iPhone 14.

It’s also likely that future iPhone SE models will continue to support Touch ID, at least for the next few years. The iPhone SE is all about affordability, and the cameras and sensors that power Face ID are expensive. Even if Apple eventually moves to an edge-to-edge screen design and eliminates the home button, the iPhone SE will likely follow in the footsteps of the iPad Air and move the Touch ID sensor to the side button.

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