Samsung Galaxy S10 could feature Apple’s Face ID feature

Samsung launched Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ with what it calls as the “Reimagined Camera”. The smartphone largely retains the design from last year, and sports a primary camera with dual aperture.

The Galaxy S9 duo also takes a page from Apple’s playbook, and brings a new feature called AR Emoji, its competitor to Animoji on iPhone X. The AR Emoji mainly produces software driven 3D animated characters, and does not use any of the sophisticated depth sensors found on iPhone X. However, it now seems that Samsung does plan to bring its own take on Apple’s Face ID, which also enables Animoji.

According to Korean news outlet The Bell, Israeli startup Mantis Vision is working with camera module firm Namuga to develop 3D sensing solution for Samsung’s next flagship tentatively named ‘Galaxy S10’. The technology could lead to Samsung introducing a face recognition feature similar to iPhone X’s Face ID. The feature could pave way for Samsung to get rid of its less secure iris recognition system.

Soon after the launch of iPhone X in September last year, videos surfaced showing how the Galaxy S8‘s iris scanner can be tricked to unlock a device by using monochrome image of the registered user. Samsung later confirmed that its facial recognition solution is not that secure, and even restricted access to Samsung Pay and its Secure Folder feature.

In comparison, Apple says that its Face ID has a failure rate of one in every million attempts, which is significantly higher compared to 1-in-50,000 failure rate of Touch ID. Face ID involves a plethora of sensors hidden under that now infamous notch and its most critical part is the dot projector. The sensors create a 3D depth map and a mathematical model of the user, and the whole data is securely stored in Secure Enclave.

It has been proven that Face ID can be broken with a sophisticated mask, and not with simple photo like the Galaxy S8. Huawei, one of the major rivals to Apple and Samsung, has created its own Face ID competitor and will showcase the tech at the launch of its P20 flagship on March 27. Samsung following suit only makes sense, but the key will be how the South Korean company implements the feature.