The outer screen of the next iPhone Duo could unlock with your face. Mark Gurman says Apple has already made test units of the iPhone Duo 2 that do this, yet the company may not get the feature ready before launch, which would hand it to the Duo 3.
Face ID tops a wish list of four upgrades Apple wants for later Duo phones: an Action button, a zoom lens and a slimmer, lighter build make up the rest. Which of the three would land on the second model and which would wait is not part of the report.
Bloomberg’s Sunday newsletter from Gurman is the only source, and Apple has said nothing about the plans or the timing. That makes it a roadmap report, not a spec sheet, and prototype features are often cut or delayed before release.
The Face ID prototypes target the outer display, the screen you see while the phone is closed.
The first iPhone Duo is the phone Apple’s CEO said is sold out with no end date, and its hinge has already been stress-tested in a lab. A second generation is not due until next autumn, so there is plenty of time for the plan to change. Gurman’s wording, that Apple is running out of time, suggests the Face ID work is the part most at risk, while the other three goals are described only as aims for later models. Anyone planning to buy a Duo now should treat Face ID on the outer screen as a possible upgrade for the next one or the one after, not a promise.
