Patents they don’t necessarily describe technologies that we’ll see tomorrow in ready-made products available on the shelves, but they can give us clues to the plans that Apple (or any company) is planning in its mysterious basements. Recently, two registrations of Apple technologies have emerged at the European Patent Office and indicate two possibilities for the future: a new technology of the Face ID for Macs and the transposition of Touch Bar for peripherals, such as the Magic Keyboard.
Regarding Face ID, it’s good to note that this is not the first time we’ve seen patents related to the feature on the Mac – in fact, the first time the technology came out in patent form, before its debut on the iPhone X, it was connected to computers, not Apple smartphones. Still, these new records bring news.
In the new patents registered by Apple, the “new” Face ID would abandon 3D facial scanning, replacing it with a retinal reading permanent functioning – that is, we are talking about a module that would work at all times, detecting faces when they appear in front of the camera and scanning their retinas to authenticate user input.
Such technology is apparently even safer than the current Face ID – we’ve seen cases, after all, of newer iPhones and iPads confusing twins or being fooled by hyperrealistic 3D masks. There is no indication that Apple will follow this path, however: the company may be simply registering technologies to protect itself and avoid copies of the competition.
Image: Patently AppleThe patent illustration also shows a separate keyboard (a Magic Keyboard, or whatever the name of its successor) with its own Touch Bar, which represents a novelty expected by those who like the colorful bar of the MacBook Pro but need keyboards slightly more reliable.
It makes sense, moreover, that the two technologies (Face ID and Touch Bar) are together: currently, the Touch Bar is responsible for housing the Touch ID of MacBooks Pro and, therefore, carries the Secure Enclave which makes the authentication process secure. Changing the identification closer to the screen, as in Face ID, would free the bar from this responsibility and make its integration with external keyboards perfectly possible.
Will we see something like this in the near future?
via 9to5Mac
