Apple held a Tuesday keynote event for the newest iteration of the iPhone. A new feature of this iPhone is the lack of the “home button” near the phone’s screen, which users previously pressed in order to unlock the phone. The new iPhone’s design (the whole front-facing area is the screen!) means there is no room for the button, so how will your new iPhone unlock?
Similar to Touch ID (fingerprints), Face ID will allow users to unlock their phone in a truly unique way. Anyone who doesn’t want to use this feature can rest easy knowing that swiping up from where the home button used to be will unlock the phone (and bring up the control panel when the phone is unlocked — though there goes using the phone’s flashlight feature without unlocking it).
Apple has all sort of technical specs for this new feature to trot out (animated emojis, here we come!), but the main one that they seem happiest about is that Face ID leaves a one-in-1,000,000 chance that someone could access your iPhone. Needless to say, the internet isn’t so sure that Apple’s newest feature is such a great idea and are already predicting the ways it’ll go wrong.
I already know the iPhone X's facial recognition is gonna think all black people look alike.
— SYLVII YA YA (@SylviaObell) September 12, 2017
What if a police officer used it to gain info from a dying suspect? https://t.co/pNrll8rxqO
— Ryan Grannan-Doll (@BostonHanSolo) September 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/AthertonKD/status/907672556236242944
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/907669925086552065
Luckily, there were some reactions that were funny without forcing us to think about how this is just an episode of Black Mirror made real.
me unlocking my man's iPhone X pic.twitter.com/woWZyKpfi7
— Isabel Hsu (@isabelhsu_) September 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/marklisanti/status/907674748540280837
Apple Cinnamon Toast Crunch does not & will not open with facial recognition. Please don't ask again, we are a cereal, not a phone. pic.twitter.com/p8kTRZtSyO
— Cinnamon Toast Crunch (@CTCSquares) September 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/AnneWheaton/status/907677057169080320
We're watching #AppleEvent and… unlock your phone w/ facial recognition!?? Rewrite the timeline, Apple just created SkyNet. 😂 pic.twitter.com/6WGn3hNldn
— Nerdist (@nerdist) September 12, 2017
Wozniak says he is excited to see the new iPhone facial recognition feature. He likes the feature a lot on his Samsung phone: WSJ
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 12, 2017
The new iPhone is going to cost $1,000 dollars, which is enough for most folks to swallow … even without considering a facial recognition feature.