The iPhone has it, the iPad has it, but until now Apple has held off bringing its Face ID security technology to its popular MacBook laptops.
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That’s despite the company actually adding a display notch similar to the iPhone to its more recent Apple Silicon-powered MacBook laptops.
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However, it does seem like Apple is working on the technology with a recent patent filing pertaining to a “Light Recognition Module for Determining a User of a Computing Device.”
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The module explained within the United States Patent Office filing, spotted by Apple Insider, naturally refers to a camera within that notch, which is shown in supported diagrams.
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“By performing these complex functions, sensitive data associated with these users may be gathered and/or stored by these computing devices,” Apple says in the patent.
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“To prevent unauthorised users from accessing this sensitive data, these computing devices may incorporate systems and mechanisms for authenticating users.”
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As these patents tend to, the filing goes into the minutiae of the technical detail over how this would work
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Apple explains “the light pattern recognition module includes a light emitter that is capable of projecting a predetermined pattern of light (e.g., infrared light)
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This isn’t the first Apple patent published on the matter. Patents began to emerge in 2020 and there was another as recently as June 2023
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We’ve heard nothing suggesting the forthcoming M3 models would include Face ID to supplement the current Touch ID option within the keyboard’s power button.