Android feature alert! This iPhone X technology unlikely on Android phones anytime soon

When Apple launched the iPhone X last year equipped with its most advanced face unlock technology yet, it was abundantly known that it is not going to take longer for Android phones to begin copying the same. Companies such as Oppo, Vivo, Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus, among others, have their own versions of face unlock tech that they offer in smartphones steeply cheaper than iPhone X.

However, the Android facial recognition is another botched up version that stands nowhere near the Face ID available on iPhone X. A new report now says that the Android users may have to wait for the efficient 3D facial recognition tech on phones as long as the third quarter of 2018.

A report by DigiTimes points out that Android phones will have to wait to pack the advanced facial recognition feature to match with Face ID. Face ID makes the use of 3D depth sensing of the face to diminish various emotions and facial changes as an obstruction to the process of face unlocking the iPhone X.

The 3D facial recognition on Android phones seems way too far, beyond the third quarter of this year to be precise. As per the report, the 3D sensing models are co-developed by Qualcomm, Himax Technologies, and Truly Opto-Electronics, which is considered to be almost the apex in the industry, however, there is a limitation when it comes to OEMs.

The 3D sensing technology requires the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor at least. Currently, Xiaomi is offering its devices sporting the same SoC, however, companies such as Samsung and Huawei employ their own chipsets on their phones. Moreover, the companies also take time to customise the software and algorithms, which results in a delayed rollout of some of the latest features, including 3D facial recognition.

According to recent leaks, the Xiaomi Mi 7 – the successor to the last year’s Mi 6 – will be the first Android phone to feature 3D facial recognition. It is said to run on Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and is expected to launch towards the second half of this year. However, it was further reported that the finer detailing and low success rate of the facial recognition could delay the launch of Mi 7 further to the third quarter.