Samsung May Allow Video Chats With AR Emoji

Samsung introduced its Animoji counterpart with the Galaxy S9 earlier this year. The feature is called AR Emoji and it’s slightly different than Apple’s version in that it creates a full digital avatar of the user which they can then use to add more flair to their conversations. It appears that the company has thought of the possibility of allowing users to participate in video chats with their AR Emoji avatars.

Samsung has been awarded a patent on technology that will enable users to video chat with one another using 3D models of their face, which is basically what an AR Emoji is. What’s interesting to note is that Samsung described this technology in the patent back in 2013.

You normally require high bandwidth for video chats which tend to be high latency because entire image sequences have to be generated and compressed before they can be transmitted to the other device. “A need exists for a visual communication system capable of displaying the user’s actual likeness, facial expressions, and motion in real time, while reducing bandwidth.”

The patent also mentions that the existing method of video chatting also makes it difficult to make eye contact with the person on the other end because the camera isn’t mounted in the screen. Could this be a feature that Samsung has kept for the 10th anniversary Galaxy S flagship that’s due next year? Only time will tell.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: AR Emoji, Samsung