iPhone Fold won't have an essential feature you might have had hoped for, claims expert

While the eyes of most iPhone fans will be firmly focused on Apple's launch event next week, there are other products which the brand are working on behind the scenes. Perhaps most notably, that includes the brands efforts to enter the foldable phone space.

The iPhone Fold has long been rumoured at this point, and now another leak has emerged from a respected source. And if that's anything to go by, it could be more disappointing than we'd hoped.

The news comes from Ming-Chi Kuo, who has reiterated an earlier leak about ID unlocking on the devices. The suggestion is that the handset will use Touch ID rather than Face ID, as is more common on Apple devices these days.

The issue, it seems, is to do with the thickness of the Face ID module. That's thicker than the device itself, which is obviously not a physical possibility.

It also wouldn't be as effective in terms of cost. The folding design would require two of the module – one for the front display and one for the inner display – which adds to the price tag.

Touch ID seems like a much more effective solution for this device, then. And with a double seal of approval from Ming-Chi Kuo, there's a really good chance it will be present when the device arrives.

That's still not expected for a while. Most of the timeline rumours we've seen suggest a launch could be scheduled for the latter half of next year.

For now, then, we'll just have to keep an ear to the ground. It certainly sounds like a device which will make a significant impact when it launches, whenever that may be. For now, we'll focus our attention on the iPhone 17 range and hope that can hold our attention until the Fold is launched.