LG to Debut Its Own 3D Facial Recognition System at MWC

LG is taking a run at Apple’s 3D facial recognition dominance, with plans to introduce a similar solution in its forthcoming LG G8 ThinQ smartphone, to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

The smartphone will leverage Time-of-Flight technology developed by Infineon and Pmdtechnologies. Their sensor chip, first announced over a year ago, is designed to bounce infrared light off of a user’s face, assessing the time taken for the signals to reflect back in order to create a 3D facial map.

In a statement announcing the technology’s incorporation into LG’s new flagship smartphone, LG asserted that this ToF technology is “faster and more effective in ambient light” than other 3D technologies that rely on “complex algorithms”. The company also stated that “because ToF sees objects in 3D and is not affected by light from external sources, it delivers an excellent recognition rate, both indoors and out.”

The integration offers another illustration of how Apple’s pivot to facial recognition for user authentication in its most recent iPhones has impacted the mobile industry, with major competitors seeking to follow suit, and some now emerging with 3D facial recognition systems of their own. This will likely be a major theme at this year’s Mobile World Congress, which is scheduled to run from February 25th to 28th in Barcelona.