Face ID with mask option for iPhone 11 pro.

I don't use it because it is less reliable and slightly less secure. You are not missing much and hardly anyone wears a mask now, I do but then I am medically vulnerable.

It does indicate how much work is involved in developing and testing a security feature as complex as true depth 3D infra-red facial recognition involving only the eye area.

There are a lot of things that my iPhone 7 cannot do that the iPhone 11 can do.

It is not a matter of fairness, it is simply some new features require newer iPhone with better cameras.