{"id":23507,"date":"2026-09-13T18:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/?p=23507"},"modified":"2026-09-13T18:55:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:55:54","slug":"the-curious-case-of-face-id-and-iphone-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/13\/the-curious-case-of-face-id-and-iphone-duo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curious Case of Face ID and iPhone Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s one familiar iPhone feature that quietly disappeared with the arrival of iPhone Duo.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right \u2014 Apple\u2019s flagship new iPhone going into the holiday season, doesn\u2019t<\/em> have Face ID.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

For a $1,999 iPhone<\/a> that is supposed to represent Apple\u2019s biggest leap since the original, it\u2019s a surprising omission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Apple<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instead, iPhone Duo<\/a> uses Touch ID<\/a><\/strong> built directly into the side button. It works whether the phone is folded or completely open, and Apple says you can also unlock it \u201ceffortlessly\u201d<\/em> with your Apple Watch<\/strong>. (Apple<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That makes a lot of sense for this particular generation, here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Face ID was originally designed around a conventional iPhone. You point the top of the phone at your face and the TrueDepth camera system<\/a> does its thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Duo is a different beast.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are effectively two screens, two orientations and a folding mechanism sitting right where Apple would have to think very carefully about putting a conventional Face ID system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Apple<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apple has also managed to hide the inner FaceTime camera underneath the folding display, keeping the huge 7.6-inch screen<\/strong> clean when you\u2019re using it as a little tablet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So perhaps Apple simply wasn\u2019t willing to compromise aspects of the Duo\u2019s design in order to squeeze Face ID into generation one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the interesting bit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

What if Apple isn\u2019t giving up on Face ID at all?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What if Touch ID is the temporary answer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple has a habit of introducing a new product category, getting the fundamentals right, and then steadily removing the compromises over subsequent generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first iPhone Duo<\/a> doesn\u2019t need to be the perfect foldable iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It needs to prove that Apple can build one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if Duo becomes a successful product line, as is currently predicted<\/a>, I\u2019d be surprised if Apple didn\u2019t eventually start looking at how to bring Face ID \u2014 back<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious endgame would be some form of under-display Face ID<\/strong> \u2014 potentially working through the outer display, the inner display, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would be a much more Apple-like solution than simply putting a traditional sensor somewhere on the bezel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
iPhone Duo already has an under-display FaceTime camera that practically disappears when not in use<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a future iPhone Duo<\/a> where you unfold it, look at it and it simply knows it\u2019s you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No button. No fingerprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No visible sensor array.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just Face ID quietly working through the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That feels much more like where Apple would ultimately want to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, though, it looks like the company has made an interesting trade-off<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first iPhone Duo<\/a> gets the massive folding display, the ultra-thin design<\/a>, the clever hinge<\/a>, the new multitasking experience<\/a> and a screen that almost disappears into itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Face ID?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019m starting to wonder whether \u201cnot yet\u201d might be more important than \u201cnot at all.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s one familiar iPhone feature that quietly disappeared with the arrival of iPhone Duo. That\u2019s right \u2014 Apple\u2019s flagship new iPhone going into the holiday season, doesn\u2019t have Face ID.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2786,174,3558,16],"tags":[4,3696,3699,3697,3278,3700,2532,3698,15,3610,3581,3291,3609,3701],"class_list":["post-23507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-blog","category-blog","category-future","category-iphone","tag-apple","tag-authentication","tag-face-id","tag-face-id-camera","tag-facetime","tag-folding-mechanism","tag-future","tag-gen-1","tag-hardware","tag-ios-27","tag-iphone-duo","tag-missing","tag-touch-id","tag-under-display"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23507"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23518,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23507\/revisions\/23518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}