（中央社記者鍾榮峰台北5日電）蘋果下一代iPhone設計傳新進展。外媒報導，明年新款iPhone不排除採用螢幕下指紋辨識功能。研調機構分析認為相關功能有利OLED面板發展。
國外財經網站富比世（Forbes）資深自由作家凱利（Gordon Kelly）日前預期，蘋果下一代新iPhone可能採用螢幕下（in-display）指紋辨識功能，相關功能也可能應用在新款iPad產品。
凱利分析，螢幕下指紋辨識功能，可以減少iPhone或是iPad的螢幕邊框，並且取消主按鍵設計，也可省去臉部辨識Face ID功能的成本。
蘋果今年iPhone XS、XS Max和iPhone XR銷售狀況不如預期，外界開始揣測明年新款iPhone功能將會推陳出新。
國外科技網站Patently Apple先前報導，蘋果可能正在研發螢幕下Touch ID指紋辨識技術，未來可能應用在iPhone螢幕模組或是其他行動裝置產品，進一步提供生物識別應用。
研調機構先前指出，無論是光學螢幕下指紋辨識，還是超聲波螢幕下指紋辨識都必須搭載有機發光二極體（OLED）顯示面板，有利OLED面板發展。螢幕下指紋辨識快速進入市場，預計2019年全球螢幕下指紋辨識產品需求突破1億顆。
智慧型手機螢幕下光學指紋辨識技術備受矚目。分析師先前預期，全球智慧型手機品牌，僅蘋果與三星（Samsung）可能大量採用光學式螢幕下指紋辨識（under-display fingerprint recognition）。此外市場也傳出，三星明年第1季的手機新品，可能採用超聲波螢幕下指紋辨識技術。
Apple has decided to wait until at least 2020 to offer an iPhone with 5G connectivity, according to a new report. And if that’s true, you’ll be happy it did.
Earlier on Monday, Bloomberg cited industry sources who said Apple has decided against launching a 5G iPhone in 2019 and will instead introduce it in 2020, at the earliest. Bloomberg’s sources said that Apple will follow a tack it took with 3G and 4G wireless technology and wait at least a year for early adopters to access the technology before offering 5G itself. Bloomberg also cited “5G boosters” who believe the jump to 5G will be great and Apple’s decision to wait “riskier.”
The truth, however, is that Apple’s decision to wait makes sense on several fronts.
For one, we’ve been hearing reports that Apple had wanted to offer 5G in 2019, but due to compatibility problems between its iPhone and 5G chips built by Intel, it can’t do it. Those reports said the Intel chips were causing the iPhones to become unstable and hog battery life.
That alone is enough reason to wait. Apple simply can’t afford to launch a 5G iPhone with hobbled performance. Even if connectivity is slower, a 4G iPhone that works well would trump a broken 5G iPhone any day.
But it goes beyond that.
What those “5G boosters” apparently ignore is that 5G’s rollout is expected to be somewhat slow. Major carriers, like Verizon and AT&T , are already testing 5G with promises of big things to come, but nearly every industry watcher says 5G won’t become ubiquitous or enjoy rapid, heavy deployment until 2020. More 5G markets will crop up in 2019, for sure, but there will still be plenty of people waiting until 2020 or beyond to get the technology in their area. For those people—millions strong—a 5G iPhone would be useless.
Finally, we should acknowledge that not being first isn’t necessarily a bad thing in tech. In fact, Apple has used that strategy with great success over the years. The truth is, new technology like 5G could have some problems that need to be worked out in the beginning. And as much as carriers have tested and tested the technology, there’s no telling what might go wrong in the early days.
Apple has long believed that stable performance is more important than cutting-edge performance. And in 5G, there’s reason to believe that philosophy makes sense.
There’s no debating that 5G is the future and it promises incredible gains in speed, connectivity, and more. But waiting a year to jump on that bandwagon won’t hurt Apple—or its customers.