iPhone 8 to feature 3D front-facing camera for facial recognition and more

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Earlier report suggested that Apple could ditch the Touch ID fingerprint scanner in favor of edge-to-edge OLED display and incorporate 3D facial recognition on iPhone 8. The new report maintains on the previous speculations.

According to Apple analyst KGI Ming-Chi Kuo, as reported by 9to5mac, along with the OLED display iPhone’s next model will come with a front-facing camera that could record 3D information by capturing 2D images with depth data from an infrared module.

With the introduction of this new imaging feature, iPhone could be able to perform iris recognition as well as facial recognition. Application usability doesn’t end with the security features only, but this could work to take 3D selfies that further can be used in games for three dimensional face of the user instead of the predefined avatars. Augmented reality is another application that could have doors open with the new system in place in new iPhone.

The new 3D system will work by emitting invisible IR signals and detecting them when they are reflected by objects within the distance using a 1.4 megapixel IR receiver.

As the report suggests, the infrared transmitter will use vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser technology from a company called Lumentum. It will be first time an iPhone will make use of infrared receiver – those will be manufactured by Foxconn and Sharp. Sony will provide the front-facing camera for the next iPhone.

The hardware will be controlled by algorithms developed by PrimeSense (a company that Apple acquired in 2013.) The resulting system is said to have better depth-sensing capabilities than the existing iPhone 7 Plus. The mechanism in current iPhone 7 Plus works with its  dual camera by using optical parallax offset of its two lenses to determine the distance to objects.

What’s considerable is that you should take all these reports with a pinch of salt as substantiated reports over and over again also do not guarantee the truth. So just stay calm and see what innovation the iPhone will bring to its fans.