Apple's 3D Sensing is Two Years Ahead of Qualcomm's [Report]

Apple's progress on 3D sensing is a year and a half to two years ahead of Qualcomm, according to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Qualcomm is the leading company working on 3D sensing components for Android devices so Apple's smartphones may have a competitive advantage in the area for a few years.

While Qualcomm has excelled in designing advanced application processors and baseband solutions, it lags behind in other crucial aspects of smartphone applications like dual-camera (many Android phones have instead adopted solutions used to simulate optical zoom from third-party vendors such as Arcsoft (US)) and ultrasonic fingerprint scanner (while a new reference design has been released, there is no visibility on mass production). So while Qualcomm is the most engaged company in the R&D of 3D sensing for the Android camp, we are conservative as regards progress toward significant shipments and don't see it happening until 2019F.

Kuo reports that Qualcomm is dealing with immature algorithms and an unfavorable hardware reference design for smartphones due its to form factor and thermal issues. Key component suppliers have already allocated resources to Apple leaving Qualcomm to find different supplies for sufficient resources.


The 'Android camp' is reportedly taking a wait and see approach to 3D sensing which also doesn't bode well for Qualcomm. Kuo believes that are waiting to see how Apple will use the technology and whether it will offer an 'innovative user experience'.

Apple is reportedly planning to introduce a new facial recognition feature on the iPhone 8 which will replace Touch ID. The system can allegedly 'deeply sense' a user's face in 'millionths of a second'. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

[via MacRumors]