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Face ID Deemed Too Costly To Copy, Android Makers Target In-Display Fingerprint Sensors Instead (9to5mac.com)

"Android phone makers are 'rushing' to implement fingerprint sensors under the display for upcoming handsets," reports 9to5Mac, citing a new report from Digitimes. "Android manufacturers have decided that recreating the 3D facial recognition used by iPhone X is simply too costly to include, and are instead focusing on implementing Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint scanners." From the report: The report says that including an Infrared depth-sensing facial recognition system like the iPhone X is simply too expensive for Android smartphones to offer, which cannot command the same price premiums as Apple's iPhones. This is a combination of hardware and software development costs. Digitimes claims the cost of the TrueDepth 3D sensors in iPhone X peaked at $60 per unit, an incredibly high proportion of the overall phone cost if accurate. Android makers are also worried about possible patent infringement from adopting Infrared dot projector systems. Instead, they have turned to in-display fingerprint sensors as their next-generation of device authentication. This depends on using Qualcomm technology for ultrasonic-based fingerprint scanners, which can sit below the cover glass and work even if fingers are wet or greasy.

12 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Better anyway by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FaceID is a terrible idea anyway. Notches in the screen? Seriously?

    1. Re:Better anyway by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 5, Informative

      FaceID is a terrible idea anyway. Notches in the screen? Seriously?

      Amazingly, they are copying the notch , just not the faceID.

  2. Sauce by Tsolias · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Best source for your Android news is ofc.... 9to5Mac.
    Who the fuck upvotes those submissions?

  3. This is a huge advantage for Apple by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple is going to start bringing FaceID into tablets, laptops, etc.

    It's just a vastly better way to authenticate a person than a fingerprint, because it's passive. As others have said before, in practice it feels like you are using an unlocked phone, how it used to be... I look down and see I have notifications on my phone, before I can think about it the phone unlocks and I can see the notification text and press to open them if I like.

    It's also more secure and reliable than TouchID (which I still use with other devices so I have a daily direct comparison). Your fingers too dry or wet? No TouchID. And as you get older, your fingerprints get a lot harder to read - the government global entry readers can't even read my mom's fingerprints at all, and TouchID does not work for her as reliably as it does for me.

    Fingerprint ID systems are also way easier to spoof than FaceiD, especially behind the screen systems that can't measure some aspects of a finger being used that a direct sensor can. FaceID is about an order of magnitude more secure than fingerprints (even if you do hear the occasional story about a similar face unlocking a device, no-one tries as often with fingerprint sensors or they would find that can happen a lot more often).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:This is a huge advantage for Apple by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't want passive authentication. I want active. And I don't want Apple or Google having access to biometric info that I can't change. I'll keep my long passcode, thanks very much. Not a big deal to tap it in it I need the phone.

  4. Those are optical & can be fooled with a pictu by Brannon · · Score: 4, Informative

    FaceID used infra-red depth-sensing, which makes it a lot more accurate and harder to fool.

  5. Re:It works really well, though. by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not in my experience. Whenever I use FaceID says I am too ugly to own an iPhone. So rude!

  6. Nope, not even close by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Informative

    Microsoft laptops already have FaceID type authentication

    Sigh. Face recognition from images is utterly not the same thing as FaceID which uses a 3D mapping of the face from a variety of sensors.

    Image Facial Recognition is about as secure as a TSA approved padlock.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  7. Why? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't want passive authentication. I want active.

    Why? FaceID is active when needed (like for conformation of a purchase). But the rest to the time, it works instantly when it knows you are the one looking at the phone.

    And I don't want Apple or Google having access to biometric info that I can't change.

    Right there with you! Luckily FaceID data is only held on the device (in the Secure Enclave where it remains encrypted) and does not leave it. Apple does not get any biometric data from you.

    I'll keep my long passcode, thanks very much

    That is more secure than any biometric system, just a lot more annoying. It means you turn off other things like notification text blocking or have larger purchase unlock timeframes because you don't want to have to enter passcodes as often...

    And even then, I'm not sure passcodes are realistically more secure.

    I mean, realistically how much are you willing to suffer - either physically or legally - before you unlock your phone by whatever means you have? The realistic reason why you have a passcode is so that someone can't unlock your phone you leave on a table by accident, or lose in a cab. In that case FaceID works every bit as well as a long passcode, and is far more convenient the 99.999999999% of the time you have not left your phone in a cab.

    Fingerprint scanners are pretty good but with a 1 in 50k chance that someone else's fingerprint will unlock your phone is it more possible some random person might unlock it.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Not the same, not in any way by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The implementation is different, but the end user result is the same.

    Incorrect: If you are in a very dark environment it will not work, or if you are wearing glasses when you were not, or lots of other things where FaceID can clearly see and tell it is you when an image recognition cannot... it's not just being able to prevent anyone with a picture of you from unlocking your device we are talking about.

    I know you are 100% sold on the Apple marketing

    I'm not *sold on Apple marketing*.

    The difference between you and me is I KNOW what is and is not marketing. You are just assuming something real is marketing; I use FaceID a hundred times a day or more, and still use TouchID nearly as much. So, I actually know what the hell I am talking about from a practical standpoint, not from any marketing.

    I have also done a fair amount of my own work with image/facial recognition so I know exactly how "secure" it is not, and also know the many, many ways it may fail.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  9. It's not random by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would guess that GP wants to be the one to activate the authentication process, and for it to not happen automatically at any moment "randomly".

    It's not at all random. It's when you are looking at the screen.

    Even then for some actions (like payments) it still prompts for confirmation, so it's not always completely automatic - just when that makes sense, like unlocking the phone (unlocking does not go to the home screen).

    If you are in some app asking for a password the system can auto-fill, it does so - but does not submit it for you. Again, it's automatic in ways that are handy, but not ways that take some action you might not have wanted.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  10. Tired of senseless copying by iampiti · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As an Android fan I'm tired of Android phone manufacturers copying everything the iPhone does (copying also happens the inverse way). It may be nice to copy good ideas but some manufacturers also insist in copying the bad ones. e.g.: Headphone jack removal and, worst of all, the notch.