We don't know exactly when the iPhone 12 will appear, but it seems likely that it will appear in October, later than the usual September announcement. And we sincerely hope that Apple will find the time to ensure that the iPhone 12 will include the iPad Air 4's new Touch ID button.

Instead of using a circular home button, Apple has made the front of the iPad 4 design buttonless and integrated the Touch ID fingerprint scanner into the tablet's side-mounted power button. This is a neat feature that would work well with the upcoming iPhone 12 series.

Apple's face-scanning biometric Face ID has been the primary method of unlocking flagship smartphones since the iPhone X. However, Face ID does not work when the user is wearing a mask, requiring the user to punch in a passcode instead.

A sliding Touch ID scanner integrated into the iPhone 12's power button would solve this problem without compromising the phone's security or ergonomics. We saw Samsung do it with the 2019 Galaxy S10e and it worked very well.

"The focus on a new integrated fingerprint reader likely foretells that it will be on the next iPhone as a hedge against Face ID," Reticle Research analyst Ross Rubin told CNET. It is still unclear whether the next iPhone in question is the iPhone 12 or the iPhone 13.

However, we may have to wait for the iPhone 13, as leaked information so far does not suggest that such a fingerprint scanner will be included in the iPhone 12. If Apple is indeed releasing the iPhone 12 series in October, which is believed to come in 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.7-inch sizes, the design of the device should have already been decided.

However, Apple could have used the extra time it seems to have gained as a result of the Coronavirus mess to tweak the iPhone 12 handset's power button and include a Touch ID sensor. Since Apple seems to have found a way to make the Touch ID sensor more compact, there may be no chance of incorporating a scanner into the iPhone 12 at the last minute.

This is all speculation, as we have not heard any hint that Apple is considering a new Touch ID sensor for the iPhone 12. However, it would be a very nice addition alongside Face ID.

Speaking of features, the iPhone 12 is expected to include a new A14 Bionic chip, 5G connectivity, dual rear cameras on standard models, and a triple camera array and LiDAR sensor on Pro devices.

There is some debate as to whether the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max will feature 120 Hz refresh rate displays.