Most Android original equipment manufacturers still aren’t particularly interested in three-dimensional sensing solutions and aren’t planning to implement them into their next smartphones, DigiTimes reported earlier this week, citing a number of industry sources familiar with the matter. While a significant number of analysts previously predicted that Android phone makers will be looking to emulate the Face ID technology Apple introduced with the iPhone X in fall and several major OEMs like Samsung and Huawei reportedly experimenting with such solutions, the vast majority of devices set to be released in the first half of 2018 won’t support 3D sensing platforms and it’s currently unclear whether they’ll pick up additional steam in the final six months of the year, insiders claim.
Being by far the most dominant chip supplier for flagships, Qualcomm was expected to spearhead the adoption of advanced biometric mobile services that would allow for maximally secure facial recognition, having reportedly partnered with Truly Opto-electronics and Himax Technologies on developing such solutions for OEMs in China. However, a weak response from Android device makers is said to have discouraged the San Diego, California-based semiconductor company from continuing to pursue 3D sensing platforms in the near term. It’s currently unclear whether phone makers were skeptical about the need for implementing new biometric technologies into their products or weren’t convinced by the prototypes Qualcomm showed to them as the company is reportedly far behind Apple in terms of 3D scanning tech.
Most Chinese OEMs also aren’t interested in introducing new innovations to their next handsets as they’re still trying to clear old inventories and may not be able to do so until mid-2018, sources claim. Additionally, the current state of the technology isn’t advanced enough to ensure stable yield rates, making any hypothetical implementation a costly affair that would likely lead to increased prices which don’t mix well with inventory clearing efforts, as per the same report. For the time being, most Android OEMs are expected to continue focusing on refining their existing devices, whereas only near-term smartphone innovation is expected to come in the form of new AI applications and 3D sensing technologies aren’t likely to start entering the mainstream Android segment before fall.