TouchID wearing out?

[I7guy]

New York Magazine also noted that complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors such as those found on Touch ID generally wear out and become unusable after some period of time. The magazine said that while Apple may have found a way to manufacture the sensors better, if they stop working, users may just switch back to using their passcode, making fingerprint recognition a non-starter once again. It also notes that fingerprint technology still has some issues, such as the potential to be hacked, or of the device not recognizing the fingerprint (for example when the finger has been injured).[14]

This is probably what they were talking about.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_ID

Hacking is a non-issue for most people. If you have to worry about being hacked an iPhone is not the device for you.

My 5s is still working fine.

 

[kdarling]

I don't see how it could wear out. It's pretty much a high resolution camera right?

It's a high resolution (500 DPI) array of tiny flat antennas. Similar to a touch panel, but much denser.

An RF signal is transmitted from the outer metal ring into your finger, and the signal levels (corresponding to your fingerprint ridges and valleys) are detected on each antenna "pixel" in the array, basically building a 3D image of your print.

New York Magazine also noted that complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors such as those found on Touch ID generally wear out and become unusable after some period of time.

Normally that is true of capacitive sensors, which is why they usually have some kind of tough ceramic coating sputtered on top, and even that will eventually wear off (especially on swipe type sensors).

For Touch Id, Apple used a thin sliver of sapphire on top, which serves as the Home button surface and protects the antenna array underneath.