An upcoming iPhone may very well use voice-ID recognition system to recognize its owner's voice and authenticate it at the same time that it is being given a command.
This is the latest in Apple's series of futuristic interface endeavors.
One of Apple's latest patents submitted suggests that Apple might very well be planning to go one step ahead of its Touch ID and even its Voice recognition system.
The US Patent Office has released a number of new patents allocated to Apple. One of the aforementioned patents describes a new way of users identifying themselves and being allowing access to a secure portion of both the device's hardware and software - by recognizing the pattern of their voice, that is.
The patent in question, patent #9263612 ('Device access using voice authentication') was submitted in March 2011 and credited to former engineering director Adam Cheyer as its inventor.. It says among its submission, "A device can include a more user-friendly authentication process for accessing a locked device. A user's voice can be authenticated at the same time that a voice command is processed; no separate authentication step is required."
This suggests that this is a new development. While always-on Hey Siri - with the iPhone 6s - enabled the voice assistant even when the phone wasn't plugged in, and Touch ID and fingerprint recognition has been pioneer work, this latest development, if ever incorporated into one of Apple's devices, will actually perform two functions at once: recognize a user's voice while a command is given to it.
This innovation would make security better and more efficient, and will very likely make unlocking devices faster than older, traditional PIN codes.
It is as yet unknown whether the technology requires dedicated electrical pathways on the circuit like the Touch ID does for now, or if it can be incorporated on existing devices. If the latter is true, then there is a chance we could see this technology in the iPhone 7, or more likely the iPhone 7s when it launches in late 2017 (according to iPhone 7 buzz).
