“A Bloomberg report today made claims that Apple had reduced its requirements from suppliers on the accuracy level of Face ID,” Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch. “Apple has issued a statement stating that the report is ‘completely false’ and that it expects Face ID to be the new gold standard of facial authentication.”
The statement from Apple:
Customer excitement for iPhone X and Face ID has been incredible, and we can’t wait for customers to get their hands on it starting Friday, November 3. Face ID is a powerful and secure authentication system that’s incredibly easy and intuitive to use. The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven’t changed. It continues to be 1 in a million probability of a random person unlocking your iPhone with Face ID.
Bloomberg’s claim that Apple has reduced the accuracy spec for Face ID is completely false and we expect Face ID to be the new gold standard for facial authentication.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven’t changed” since when? Since September 12th when the iPhone X was unveiled to the public with Face ID’s stated “1 in a million probability?”
The fact is that Apple could’ve altered their specs during the production process, as is routine, prior to unveiling Face ID. Their statement today does nothing to negate that possibility or, therefore, Bloomberg’s report.
Both Bloomberg‘s report and Apple’s statement can be true.
The salient portions of Bloomberg’s report:
As Wall Street analysts and fan blogs watched for signs that the company would stumble, Apple came up with a solution: It quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture, according to people familiar with the situation…
Apple is famously demanding, leaning on suppliers and contract manufacturers to help it make technological leaps and retain a competitive edge. While a less accurate Face ID will still be far better than the existing Touch ID, the company’s decision to downgrade the technology for this model shows how hard it’s becoming to create cutting-edge features that consumers are hungry to try…
To boost the number of usable dot projectors and accelerate production, Apple relaxed some of the specifications for Face ID, according to a different person with knowledge of the process. As a result, it took less time to test completed modules, one of the major sticking points, the person said.
It’s not clear how much the new specs will reduce the technology’s efficacy. Eecutives initially announced in September that there was a one in a million chance that an interloper could defeat Face ID to unlock a phone. Even downgraded, it will probably still be far more accurate than Touch ID, where the odds of someone other than the owner of a phone being able to unlock it are one in 50,000.
SEE ALSO:
Apple reduced the accuracy of iPhone X’s Face ID to make it easier to manufacture – October 25, 2017