Huawei reveals details of its upcoming Face ID competitor

By

Face ID
Face ID uses 30,000 invisible dots to map your face.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Face ID on the iPhone X could soon face some stiff competition from one of Apple’s biggest rivals in China.

Huawei unveiled its latest tech today that is destined for its Android smartphones and it looks like the company may have come up with a facial recognition solution that’s already better than Face ID.

Some analysts have predicted that it will take Android handset manufacturers 18-24 months to catch up with Apple’s 3D sensing technology. Huawei is looking to leapfrog Apple though by developing a 3D mapping camera system that captures 10 times more data points than Face ID.

face id
Huawei’s Face ID clone will be a lot like Apple’s.
Photo: Huawei

For Huawei’s facial recognition system, the company plans to use fringe projection instead of a laser. The system will create a map of elevations and depressions of a face to measure 300,000 points within 10 seconds.

That could possibly make it more robust than Apple’s True Depth camera on the iPhone X. But there’s one catch: Huawei hasn’t announced a phone that actually packs the new technology. During the company’s demo they also showed off a clone of Apple’s animoji feature. Executives didn’t say whether it will be included in the Huawei P11 which is expected to launch next year.

Via: Engadget

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.