Forget the iPhone, Apple may be bringing Touch ID under the screen to the Mac

For years, Apple has been rumored to be exploring ways to install biometric sensors under the iPhone’s display, saving itself from having to put Face ID sensors in the Dynamic Island or a Touch ID fingerprint reader in one of the buttons. Very few expected Apple to focus on developing such a feature for the Mac — but a newly granted patent offers an interesting hint of exactly that.

In US patent 12,548,534, filed in January 2025 and granted this week (and immediately spotted by AppleInsider), Apple reveals its work on a project titled, perhaps misleadingly, “Display with localized brightness adjustment capabilities.” But the real purpose of the concept is stated in the abstract, which discusses “an array of light sensors to capture the user’s fingerprints through an array of matching transparent windows on the display.”

So far so unsurprising: Apple has been granted patents on several occasions in the past for what sounds suspiciously like under-screen Touch ID. But what differs from, for example, US patent 10,824,837 is the noticeable lack of anything connecting the research to the iPhone. Not in wording: Apple is always as vague as it can get, consistently referring to electronic devices rather than smartphones, or listing long lists of possible applications. (In this latest patent, Apple cites a “tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, display, mobile phone, media player, wristwatch, or other wearable electronic device or other suitable electronic device.”) But in the artwork.

The patent drawing 10,824,837 is a completely transparent handheld device of some kind. Apple is keeping things quiet again: it could be a smartphone or a small tablet. But there’s no way there’s a Mac in the world. Contrast that with 12,548,534, which is illustrated by a series of nondescript near-square rectangles (notably without a human finger to provide a scale clue) that could be taken to represent almost any Apple display, from the iPhone to the Studio Display. And AppleInsider takes this as a possible hint that the patent could be intended for applications other than the iPhone, such as the iPad (which would probably be most suited to the screen’s proportions) or even the Mac.

Macs aren’t an obvious use case for Touch ID under the screen. since screen space is at a premium for the iPhone and iPad, the Mac doesn’t have to give up any screen space for biometrics; their keyboards have built-in Touch ID sensors and these do not bring any obvious disadvantages. Placing sensors under screens could reduce screen output quality, increase costs, or introduce a host of other complications. However, Apple is rumored to release its first touchscreen MacBook later this year, so it’s not entirely outlandish.

Of course it’s just a patent. Patent activity is no guarantee of future plans: sometimes projects are delayed or canceled altogether, and it is not unknown for companies to apply for patents to hinder or mislead their competitors.

Still, it’s an interesting idea. Watch this space and we’ll let you know if anything comes of it.