#face id

Apple is already testing a second-generation iPhone Duo with Face ID built beneath the outer display, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. MacRumors and 9to5Mac relayed the report, which Gurman made on his Power On podcast.

Prototypes of the follow-up model reportedly include the depth-sensing hardware needed for Face ID. Gurman said, however, that Apple has not finalized whether the feature will make it into the shipping product, so the plan could still change. He described the device as a successor expected next fall.

Face ID debuted with the iPhone X in 2017 and replaced Touch ID on most iPhones. It relies on a set of sensors collectively called the TrueDepth camera system, housed in the notch or Dynamic Island area.

When you glance at your phone, a flood illuminator sends out infrared light so the system can detect a face even in darkness. A dot projector then casts a pattern of more than 30,000 invisible infrared dots onto the face, and an infrared camera captures how that pattern is distorted. The distortion encodes the three-dimensional shape of your features.