This is not the first time Huawei has tried to beat Apple at its own game. The company unveiled a phone with a “Force Touch” style feature days before the launch of the iPhone 6S.
Huawei’s new take on facial recognition was unveiled at a presentation about the Huawei V10, where it noted a technology that combines things like infrared and a projector to create a 3D map of the user’s face. According to Huawei, its tech will capture 300,000 points in 10 seconds. That is 10 times the number of points captured by the iPhone X.
With accuracy like that, the technology will be secure enough for things like mobile payments and will work almost as quickly as Huawei’s fingerprint sensors.
Of course, there is one problem with the tech — it’s not currently in any of Huawei’s phones. When Huawei showed it off at the event, the company didn’t note that it would come with any specific phones. In other words, expect plenty of Face ID copies in the next year or so — but don’t hold your breath for getting an Android phone with a Face ID equivalent in the next few months.
It’s unknown what kind of a role Face ID will play in phones. It’s possible that facial-recognition technology could eventually replace fingerprint sensors, though many suggest that phones should have both. After all, Face ID is not the most convenient way to unlock a phone that is sitting on a desk.
It’s likely that Huawei is not the only company working on an answer to Apple’s Face ID — though we will have to wait and see if any other companies follow suit.
