As the launch of Apple’s iPhone 16 fast approaches, more news about its features is also coming forward. Two of these features are the modem chip and the embedded face ID. What are the things you should know about these? Here’s the scoop.
In-house modem chip
The Cupertino tech giant has depended on Qualcomm modem chips for mobile data connectivity for years. In fact, the latest iPhone 14 units use Qualcomm modems. However, rumors are circulating about Apple’s development of its own modem chip. Media outlets say these rumors appear authentic and may even have received recognition from Qualcomm’s chief executive officer, Cristiano Amon.
In his interview with CNBC at Mobile World Congress, he confirmed that the company has “no plans” to provide Apple with modem chips in 2024.
“We’re making no plans for 2024, my planning assumption is we’re not providing [Apple] a modem in ’24, but it’s their decision to make,” Amon told CNBC.
This points to just one possibility: Apple would be rolling out its own.
Furthermore, Apple has also not placed an order with Qualcomm, making the claims stronger that it may use its own hardware. Large-scale chip production plans are typically made in advance. Thus, if Apple wanted to order Qualcomm’s modem chips in 2024, it must start the process now.
Ultimately, it would be the Cupertino tech giant’s decision whether to continue its partnership with Qualcomm.
Embedded Face ID
Meanwhile, Apple has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and this includes an embedded Face ID element for the iPhone 16 Pro just underneath its display. Also, despite the speculations that the technology would be in iPhone 15 this 2023, it seems unlikely to happen this year.
Patently Apple first spotted the patent application, and according to the application, Apple noted that the new invention will include a display with a front and back surface. Multiple pixel areas will give off light from the surface at the front to reveal an image, and multiple openings will bring the light from the front to the back surface of the display.
Moreover, Apple’s proposed device includes a camera mounted on one side of the rear surface of the display. This camera is set up to capture an image. A processor is connected to the display and the camera in the device. And to minimize image distortion that the display prompts, the processor is set up to accept the captured image and apply a first digital filter to the captured image’s first part and a second digital filter, different from the first, to the captured image’s second portion.
Ross Young, a display analyst, said on Twitter that this embedded Face ID feature will likely arrive in 2024 with the iPhone 16. On the other hand, tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that the feature would be restricted to iPhone 16 Pro.
