OnePlus says the OnePlus 5 won’t get the face unlock feature in an Ask Me Anything-style post on its forums today. During the post in which community users have been able to ask all kinds of questions to members of the OnePlus staff, including Co-Founder Carl Pei, one user asked if the OnePlus 5 or other past devices would be getting the face unlock feature, which as the name suggests would allow users to unlock their phones using their face instead of relying on entering a PIN or password or authorizing the unlock with a fingerprint.
OnePlus doesn’t give any sort of real reasoning as to why the OnePlus 5 won’t be getting face unlock, the company’s Product Manager Louis S. simply states that the OnePlus 5 wouldn’t benefit from the face unlock feature as the fingerprint sensor on the front offers a great user experience. This seems to more or less sidestep the question in such a way that an actual answer doesn’t have to be given. It could also confuse users and give them the impression that because the OnePlus 5T does have a face unlock feature that the user experience with the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone may not be a great one. That is of course, likely not at all what OnePlus is implying, especially about its own phone, but it wouldn’t be surprising if users took the statement the wrong way.
More detail or not, the fact of the matter is that OnePlus didn’t feel like the OnePlus 5 would need to have the face unlock feature present, just like it didn’t feel that the OnePlus 2 needed to have NFC in an age where mobile payments are growing and more people are starting to use them. OnePlus’ decision is likely final and that unfortunately means for OnePlus 5 owners that were hoping to get face unlock, they’ll have to stick with doing things the way they have been since they purchased the phone. There is perhaps a chance that OnePlus could change its mind here, or at the very least give more information to users and owners of the OnePlus 5 on why it decided to skip the face unlock feature for the phone.