 "Apple plans to integrate Touch ID into iPhone's screen")
US tech giant Apple is planning to remove the physical Touch ID button below the screen and directly integrate with it the biometric functionality for its 2017 iPhone model, a media report said.
Users will then need to press on the designated Touch ID area and will feel a slight vibration when the feature is activated.
Touch ID, which analyses a fingerprint to ensure the owner is actually using it, is the foundation for the company's Apple Pay mobile payments service, business magazine Fortune.com reported on Friday.
Touch ID is used to unlock iOS devices, safeguard app data and in the upcoming iOS 10 scheduled to launch this year, Touch ID will also be used for users to make mobile purchases through the iPhone's Safari browser.
The 2017 iPhone is also expected to sport an all-new design with a glass enclosure, replacing the current norm of metal body design.
Apple could also offer at least one iPhone model next year sporting a curved screen that would come with a organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology, that has not yet been offered in an iPhone, the report added.