MediaTek presents Active Stereo Technology for a cheap alternative to Apple’s Face ID. Different facial recognition tools are becoming standard in the smartphone world. Even though it is mainly the Apple domain, and the phones on the Android don’t handle that well. There will be a change in this situation and MediaTek will battle against Apple developed technologies.
Currently, some smartphones are slowly approaching the level of face recognition, but they are poorly implemented. MediaTek is working on a relatively low-cost alternative to Apple technology for creating a low-cost version of face recognition. That would be adopted by various electronics manufacturers with Android on board.
How Active Stereo Technology Works?
Its main goal is to extend face recognition not only to the flagships of smartphones but also to mid-range and low-shelf phones. The MediaTek solution is called Active Stereo and is compatible with the Helio P60 and Helio P22 chipsets. The equipment consists of two infrared lenses, a face recognition algorithm, and a depth enhancement machine. The latter is already used to create bokeh-like images.
However, currently, these are just the plans. So it is hard to say when When MediaTek will present new face recognition technology like this. That is because since Apple has launched Face ID, there has been no competition for this technology. And we can say that the other competitors are still at least two years behind the apple.
In order to make this work, a smartphone must have an infrared projector, two different lenses, a proper facial recognition algorithm and the right equipment to make everything work.
And the cost of the whole thing is much lower than for face recognition, and at the same time the company says that there are no differences in quality. So it’s possible that in the near future we’ll be moving to cheaper smartphones where we can quickly unlock them with a scan of our face.