The iPhone 8's 3D face scanner will reportedly be able to work 'in the millionths of a second' (AAPL)

Man looking at his iPhone

A new report from The Korea Herald suggests that the upcoming iPhone 8's rumoured 3D face scanner will be able to sense a user's face "in the millionths of a second."

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel is believed to cover the eagerly anticipated device's entire front, eliminating the space for the physical home button that doubles up as a Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

Over the last few months, a series of rumours have suggested that Apple instead tried but failed to implement the Touch ID fingerprint scanner under the display — so it has decided to move to a face scanner for biometric identification instead.

This led to concern as to whether the technology could conveniently replace Touch ID, but the leaked information suggests that Apple is working hard to make sure that the iPhone's sensors will be able to securely identify a user's face quickly and at various angles.

The Herald's report also suggests that Apple is not planning to use a curved display. This does not mean that the glass covering the display will not curve over to the edges — to help with the phone's ergonomics — but the screen itself should remain flat, with minimal bezels on either side.

The special edition iPhone will likely launch with the latest iteration of Apple's mobile operating system onboard, which has been designed to work with augmented reality (AR) applications thanks to the platform's support for ARKit (a series of developer tools that allow for powerful AR apps on iOS).

And, thanks to the 3D sensor used for the face ID technology, the iPhone 8 will reportedly represent a big push for Apple in the AR world. "3D sensors are said to be adopted for the front and rear of the device to realize AR applications, which integrate 3-D virtual images with user’s environment in real time," The Herald said.

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