Apple‘s revamped iMac launched back in mid-2021, bringing with it the new in-house M1 chipset. However, it came missing the much-rumored Face ID featured. Now, the latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed that Apple was actually planning to integrate the feature on the M1 iMac.
The M1 iMac was rumored to come with Face ID due to a 2020 report that found a new extension with codes intended to support “PearlCamera” in the macOS Big Sur Beta 3. Pearl camera is the initial codename used by Apple for TrueDepth camera and Face ID. Codes such as “FaceDetect” and “BioCapture” were found in this extension which is similar to the codes used in iOS for Face ID.
In the latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman writes “Face ID was in the cards for the original M1 iMac. Naturally, the iMac is the thickest Mac with a built-in display since Apple’s laptops have fairly thin screens.”
The reporter did not provide any reason due to which Apple held back on providing the feature, however, he states that if Apple decides on releasing it, the feature will likely debut in iMac or an external monitor first.
He states “At this point, the technology to embed Face ID into the thin MacBook displays doesn’t exist. So if Face ID comes to the Mac, I think it will be on an iMac or external monitor first. Apple has definitely been working on this, but time will tell if they launch it.”
So it appears like MacBooks won’t be getting Face ID anytime soon due to technical limitations in shrinking down the Face ID hardware to fit in the thin display panels of the MacBook.
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(via)
