In this day and age it’s rare to find smartphone makers who come up with original ideas. Instead what we are seeing are basically improvements or variations of features “copied” from other handset makers. Touch ID is a perfect example where Apple wasn’t the first to offer fingerprint scanning on a phone, but yet they have helped make it popular.
This is why it doesn’t come as a surprise to hear the rumors that Samsung could be looking to follow in Apple’s footsteps and include a 3D facial recognition system in its 2018 flagship Galaxy S9 handset. This is not the first time this rumor has surfaced, where earlier a tweet by Ice Universe suggested that the feature would be coming to the Galaxy S9. However the latest report adds more detail by saying that Samsung is apparently in the process of reverse engineering the iPhone X’s Face ID technology.
We should point out that the Galaxy S8 did come with facial recognition, but it was definitely not on the same level as Face ID, or at least in theory since the iPhone X has yet to be released so how well Face ID performs is still anyone’s guess. It is an interesting rumor because an earlier report by analysts have indicated that Android handset makers are at least 2.5 years behind Apple when it comes to the technology.
However it does seem to suggest that there is some interest in the field as various facial recognition startups have stated that there is renewed interest in their tech following the iPhone X’s announcement. Whether or not Face ID will become the next big thing in tech, or if it will flop like 3D Touch remains to be seen as the iPhone X is currently set for a release this November.
