Bye, bye, Face ID

There are some new potential leaks about the upcoming folding iPhone, and this bit stood out to me:

The leaker claims Apple has chosen not to include 3D Face ID hardware or a 3D ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor, as both systems would add internal volume and complicate efforts to slim down the device.

This was rumored before, so this isn't exactly breaking new ground, but the more I hear it, the more likely it seems to be. Depth could be the issue here, although they solved this on the iPhone Air with the camera plateau, and one would think that the folding phone would have a plateau as well. Maybe they'll be filling that one with more cameras and therefore there wouldn't be space for the full set of Face ID components? I guess it could be a cost issue, but honestly, this thing is going to be super expensive, so I don't see why they'd be pinching pennies here.

Also:

For the external display, the leaker claims Apple is using a 5.25-inch panel with a punch-hole camera implemented via a HIAA (Hole-In-Active-Area) design, a technique that minimizes inactive screen space around the cutout. It is unclear what will happen to the Dynamic Island in both instances.

Losing the dynamic island as well would be a real annoyance as well. Or would it…honestly I'm not sure. I know that the whole feature is a clever attempt to take a negative (needing a larger camera cutout than other phones because of your Face ID feature) and turning it into a positive with some neat functionality. I love having timers and sports scores up there, and it's even nice to be able to quickly get to my music/podcast app in a single tap no matter what else I'm doing on my phone, so losing it, even if it meant having a smaller camera cutout, would feel like a bit of a compromise. Does removing Face ID mean Apple gets to do the smaller cutout they've always wanted to do?

TLDR: I'm torn.

What excites me about this device combined with the rumored touch-enabled Macs coming in 2026 is that there's going to be some meaningful change in Apple hardware in a way we haven't seen in a while. iPhones that turn into iPads. Macs that turn into iPads. And iPads that…well, I guess they're just gonna be iPads for a while longer.