According to a new report, it seems highly unlikely that TouchID will return to the iPhone flagship; since the iPhone X, Apple has moved on to FaceID, leaving fingerprint scanners in the realm of iPads, MacBooks, and iPhone SEs. Now, according to a report posted on the Chinese social media site Weibo, Apple is trying to completely remove the components needed for TouchID from the upcoming iPhone 16 hardware.

The user posted this statement (via Google Translate) on Weibo: Recently, there has been news that Apple will adopt fingerprint recognition in the new iPhone. The fingerprint chip is a special 8-inch process. Most of the devices originally used for Apple's fingerprint authentication have been shut down and sealed. Basically, Apple does not use fingerprint recognition as a direction to unlock the phone.'

This message implies that the original chip that worked with fingerprint recognition will never be restored and therefore the iPhone 16 will not have this feature. However, it does state that the third-generation iPhone SE still retains TouchID functionality, but that it is the last model to feature it in the foreseeable future.

This change would bring the iPhone 16 in line with the 4th generation iPhone SE, with the 4th generation iPhone SE reporting a lack of touchscreen identification while promoting the FaceID system that has been missing on this model for some time.

This likely means that the future of the iPhone will be FaceID, which debuted on the iPhone X in 2017. While this may be a turn-off for some buyers, for many it may be seen as a natural progression given the promotion of face unlocking in the last few models.

This news adds to other rumors circulating about the iPhone 16, such as new battery technology to reduce the possibility of overheating like the iPhone 15. There are also rumors about an upgraded OLED made by Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung. We won't know more details until the final release date is around September next year.