Apple Inc. is expected to launch the iPhone 5S tomorrow, but don’t presume it will make the strides in payments some had predicted.

Reports now suggest that the biometrics to be embedded in the iPhone home button will not be payments grade.

The iPhone 5S is expected to hit stores in the latter part of 2013. Other enhancements in the iPhone 5S are expected to be an improved camera and a “slightly” faster processor. Some report say the new iPhone will have “double the screen resolution,” with a pixel count increasing to 1.5 million.

But for payments, the fingerprint scanner purportedly embedded in the home button will be the game changer. The roots of the fingerprint scanner will planted in July 2012, when Apple purchased AuthenTec for $356 million. Founded in 1998, AuthenTec specializes in fingerprint scanning technology specifically for mobile products.

The question is, will the new scanner be capable of payments-grade authentication? The answer, according to Forbes, is no:

Most accounts have indicated that initially the sensor will be able to authenticate a user on the device, as the lock screen passcode does now, but not yet be capable of secure payments. The payment piece will obviously be a really big deal, and many companies are pursuing that grail, but fingerprint authentication, if it works reliably, will be a big boon to Apple in winning over enterprise IT departments.

While that “holy grail” might remain elusive for Apple for the time being, the expectation is that eventually biometrics will become a cornerstone of mobile payments. Considering the FIDO Alliance‘s endeavors, that expectation is more centered on “when,” not “if.”