TrendForce analyst Christy Lin said that compared with fingerprints, human faces have biometric features that cannot be easily duplicated. Moreover, facial recognition is also likely to be more widely accepted by consumers and has a wider scope of applications. While the technology is primarily used in security and monitoring systems, its application is gradually expanding to other areas such as smart retail and mobile payment. Last year, Alipay, the online payment platform under Alibaba, jointly launched a payment verification system with Face ++, which is a cloud-based facial recognition platform operated by a Chinese startup known as Megvii. Aptly named “Smile to Pay,” this payment verification system lets Alipay users pay for their online shopping simply by taking selfies. Other major technology companies that have been investing in facial recognition in recent years and hold related technology patents include Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook.
However, developers are now advancing towards 3D facial recognition. One major type of 3D facial recognition solutions verifies both the image that a face produces under visible light and the depth of facial features with the help of infrared (IR) light. Another common 3D facial recognition technology uses IR light dots to measure and verify the distances and depths of facial features. The infrared light source that is used to support both types of facial recognition solutions is usually 850nm or 940nm in wavelength.Lin also noted that the current mainstream facial recognition systems, which record and match 2D images of individuals’ facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth and ears), can still be deceived by regular photos and videos.