If you're looking to buy Apple's new iPhone X in the next few months, expect a few rollbacks in quality where the device's components are concerned.
According to a new report from The Verge, Apple is taking some drastic steps in order to reduce the wait time between shipments of the new iPhone. Apparently, Apple has lowered the internal specifications for its Face ID components, in a move that is supposed to accelerate the manufacturing process, although it remains to be seen if the improvement will be significant. “It quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture,” said sources close to the situation.
Apple claims that the accuracy of Face ID’s recognition is 1,000,000:1, as compared to the 50,000:1 mark for its Touch ID. In this light, the good news is that, even if the Face ID specs take a hit, they will still be far more accurate than Touch ID and potentially provide a far more secure way to unlock one' smartphone. The report states that Face ID’s dot projector, which is the piece of hardware that emits 30,000 infrared beams onto a user's face for identification purposes, is the main reason for iPhone X's production problems. Various early indications were that there would be a shortage in available parts, with supplier Finisar unable to meet Apple’s requirements in the tight production window that they had outlined. Sharp and LG Innotek are other companies that have also struggled completing this task, with only 20% of the technology being usable off the assembly line.
Analysts are expecting Apple to only have around two or three million iPhone X devices ready to go for launch next week, which could result in a lot of unhappy customers who try to do a pre-order on Friday. If Apple can increase the number of handsets they roll out in the near future, it will obviously a big win for them financially, but hopefully the quality of the Face ID experience won't be impacted to a great degree. Only time will tell if said feature will see a significant drop-off with the downgrade in specs.