If you were Tim Cook and your head of iPhone tells you TouchID is failing to get integrated...

[Starfyre]

Apple was faced with a touch decision, what to do since TouchID can't be integrated into the iPhone X. What would you do if you were Tim Cook and you keep hearing from your head of iPhone engineering that TouchID could be integrated, but needs more time to work on a weekly basis up until the keynote.

As we've seen...

iPhone X has no TouchID making it the only thing that it lacks from the 8 and 8+
iPhone X shipping dates were delayed, probably because they were trying several things out without certainty what the specific device was they want to actually ship this year.

Would you have done the same and released iPhone X without TouchID after incurring the cost of an "extension" for your engineering team that impacted shipping estimates for iPhone X? Or would you have done something differently?

 

[cableguy84]

They should have delayed it

 

[IndianBird]

I’d have made an X next year

 

[thadoggfather]

All I know is iPhone x will be the next iPad 3 if miraculously they have this problem solved the next iteration.

Those are my 2 cents

Considering Apple has used excessive bezels for 10 years, I would have compromised. Nearly edge to edge, but Touch ID only height bezel on bottom

And if I went with bunny ears I'd black out the status bar so it looks consistent in use

And I'd slap a dark theme on it.

 

[redheeler]

I’d have made an X next year

With the amount of rumors indicating a major release for the iPhone's 10th anniversary year, I think the choice to announce and release this year was a wise one. It's what I would have done.

Face ID is still a first-generation technology, just has to work well enough to satisfy the early adopters at launch, while Apple continues to work on improvements. And as someone in another thread pointed out, Apple isn't known for redundancy, like having both Touch ID and Face ID in addition to the traditional passcode all on the same device.

 

[Starfyre]

With the amount of rumors indicating a major release for the iPhone's 10th anniversary year, I think the choice to announce and release this year was a wise one. It's what I would have done.

Face ID is still a first-generation technology, just has to work well enough to satisfy the early adopters at launch, while Apple continues to work on improvements. And as someone in another thread pointed out, Apple isn't known for redundancy, like having both Touch ID and Face ID in addition to the traditional passcode all on the same device.

Uh, all devices with Touch ID have had Traditional Passcode as an option? Besides when your phone is turned on for the first time (after a full shutdown) you are required to enter Traditional Passcode.

 

[Dwalls90]

I think people will come to love Face ID after using and trusting it, and over time we will laugh at these threads. Similar to how we laughed at the camera bump on the 6. Or how we were skeptical of even Touch ID on the 5S.

 

[redheeler]

Uh, all devices with Touch ID have had Traditional Passcode as an option? Besides when your phone is turned on for the first time (after a full shutdown) you are required to enter Traditional Passcode.

I meant Touch ID and Face ID on the same device would be redundant, especially when you already have the passcode to go to in a situation where Touch ID or Face ID fails to work right.

 

[Starfyre]

Well, I think passcode can be made a primary option too and not have to use any Touch ID or Face ID.
You know, if Apple was able to get Touch ID in, they could have made it so that Face ID could be first, Touch ID can be the fallback, and not have to deal with any passcode as an option. Or for people that think their Touch is more secure, have Touch ID be the primary and Face ID if Touch ID fails to work right.

 

[Azzurro]

Threadstarter goddess <3

 

[sniffies]

Ship iPhone X with a standalone Touch ID USB dongle + USB-to-Lightning-to-USB-C adapter + 50-foot cable for flexibility and convenience

 

[Nimoy]

There's a presumption here that TouchID is better than FaceID in some way. What's the evidence for that? Maybe Apple perfected FaceID so well that they made TouchID redundant.

As for the poll...Delaying iPhone X for an entire year because of TouchID would be crazy. Can you imagine the response if Apple announced just the iPhone 8 this year? They would have been savaged by both the press and Wall Street, not to mention the consumer. And it would have been even crazier for Apple to announce iPhone X with TouchID on the hope that they'll eventually get the engineering right. What if they never get it right? It would be a colossal embarrassment to walk back an announcement like that.

Thank God Tim Cook is in charge rather than some of the people who voted in this poll.

 

[gpoop]

Should of held the keynote in October and had no Iphone 8/8Plus. Those are after thoughts because they couldn't get the production of the X's in time for a September release.

 

[Juan007]

Touch ID is obsolete, FACE ID is the future. You don't even have to touch the phone, just look at it to unlock.

 

[JPIndustrie]

I don't know if I agree even with the premise of this whole scenario.

Based on what we saw today with Face ID and it's implementation I don't think this was a late timeline decision but rather one of something way earlier in the project. Done in order to meet a q3/4 2017 launch...

 

[Jimmy James]

The better question is; what would Steve do?

 

[Starfyre]

I don't think Steve was involved with planning for the 10... who knows, maybe if Steve were around TouchID would have been integrated into the display before the Keynote, though we literally will never know unfortunately. Am sure Tim is doing the best he can.

 

[titrau]

Tim Cook walk slow out from beginning without happy altitude that mean
X is not ready .... maybe they take risk 50/50% event ....

1000$ dollar for an iphone fail and return or exchange that screw up ,

 

[TheIgster]

Starfyre wins the longest thread titles award! YAY!

 

[EM2013]

Touch ID is obsolete, FACE ID is the future. You don't even have to touch the phone, just look at it to unlock.

Right you don't have to touch it, you have look at it (or tap it) and swipe up to unlock it
(And hope it actually unlocks unlike that failure at the event.)

 

[jamesrick80]

Honestly if I'm Tim Cook Stir Fry and I was to take all of my own biases away. I would tell my team to make something work that at least wows the fanbase even if its not quite what we wanted especially if the deadline is closing in on the new device. No offense, the Apple fanbase is willing to believe whatever Apple puts out there. At this point, there are many native iOS users locked into the Apple framework and they will take anything you give them to full effect. I would definitely release the device without TouchID. Yeah it may have some undesirable factors but it ensures crazy holiday sales and it keeps the investors happy. Sadly, the iFans are just happy to have a new device with Apple's latest tech without no after-thought to if it did anything innovative enough to warrant the cost. The iPhone X was expected and this had to be done.