According to a new report that surfaced online, the Xiaomi Mi 7 may become the first smartphone to sport ‘3D sensing’. Now, for those of you who are wondering, 3D sensing actually refers to 3D facial mapping system, and it’s actually quite similar to the TrueDepth Camera on the iPhone X. This technology is basically used for advanced facial scanning purposes, as it is a lot safer than facial scanning with a front-facing camera. This technology is not affected by facial hair changes, while you can also wear a hat, sunglasses… and you will not be able to full 3D sensing, it should be able to recognize you without a problem.
Not a single Android phone has such technology just yet, but if the provided report is to be believed, the Xiaomi Mi 7 may end up sporting it. The report claims that 3D sensing module supplier are having some serious issues combining software and hardware in order to make such tech work. The best-known 3D sensing module is a product from a partnership between Qualcomm, Himax Technologies and Truly Opto-electronics, and that module works only with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC, which is yet another indication that the Mi 7 may become the first smartphone to sport such tech, as not only will it ship with that SoC, but we’ve already seen similar rumors suggesting something like this. Huawei uses its Kirin chips, while Samsung uses both Exynos and Snapdragon processors, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll release one variant of the Galaxy Note 9 without 3D sending, and the other with such tech, so Samsung probably won’t be the first either. The report actually claims that Samsung will offer such tech, but not before 2019.
Now, the Xiaomi Mi 7 will, allegedly, be announced in the third quarter of this year, even though it was supposed to arrive sooner, but Xiaomi opted to announce the Mi MIX 2S instead. The report also claims that there’s another reason why the Mi 7 got postponed, and that is facial recognition system, which did not work as well as Xiaomi hoped it will. We’re expecting to see a ton of Mi 7 rumors in the coming weeks / months, so hopefully we’ll get more info regarding 3D sensing.