According to the latest ABI Research’s report titled “Facial Recognition for Mobile Devices”, almost 20% of smartphone shipped this year will include facial recognition capabilities. What’s more, in five years’ time, shipments of smartphones and tablets with the technology will increase to 665 million annually.
At the moment, only Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) support the technology, with Samsung’s Galaxy S III being one of the most notable smartphones to feature this technology (and so do Galaxy Nexus and HTC One X). However, over the next 2-3 years, other platforms will incorporate the capability, as well.
Facial recognition was developed in the 1960s by three scientists: Woody Bledsoe, Helen Chan Wolf and Charles Bisson. Historically, the major challenge for the technology in mobile devices has been incorporating an accurate enough sensor (camera) and a powerful enough processor to undertake the complex algorithms while limiting power consumption. Thanks to major technology advancements, this has changed…