Facial recognition tools aren’t exactly new, and in the past we have seen how Android has attempted to incorporate it as a security feature. However it’s safe to say that no one has really achieved the same level of success as Apple has with Face ID, but MediaTek is hoping to change that.
At the moment only a couple of Android handsets offer similar tech as Apple’s Face ID, but MediaTek wants to make it more accessible by creating a low-cost version that will make it easier for other Android OEMs to adopt into their handsets, and potentially bring it to not just flagships, but low and mid-range phones as well.
MediaTek’s solution will be called Active Stereo and will be compatible with the company’s Helio P60 and P22 chipsets. It will require two sets of infrared lenses, a facial recognition algorithm powered by machine learning, and depth-of-field acceleration engine, the latter of which is actually already used by the Helio chipsets to help create bokeh/beauty selfies.
That being said, exactly how this will fare compared to Face ID remains to be seen, not to mention we have no idea when it will be released or who will be adopting it. In the meantime some have suggested that Apple’s Face ID tech has given them a huge lead over the competition, and that the competition is probably 2.5 years away from catching up.
Filed in . Read more about Face Id, iPhone X, Media and Security.