In summary:
- Tech Advisor reports that Google’s Pixel 11 may introduce “Project Toscana,” an advanced facial recognition system designed to rival Apple’s Face ID for secure payments and device unlocking.
- Unlike iPhone’s notch design, this system reportedly uses a single hole-punch camera while maintaining effectiveness across all lighting conditions.
- This development could mark Google’s return to facial recognition technology since the Pixel 4, potentially offering a significant security upgrade for Android users.
Google could bring another major iPhone feature to its smartphone range with this year’s Pixel 11.
The biggest addition to the Google Pixel 10 was Qi2 charging, which saw the company emulating the MagSafe feature that Apple has long used in its iPhones.
We’ve now heard that the Google Pixel 11 could add another beloved iPhone feature with its own take on Face ID.
Google is developing something called ‘Project Toscana’. This is said to be a new system of facial recognition for both Android smartphones and Chromebook laptops, according to Android Authority.
While most current Android phones let you unlock using facial recognition, it’s not sufficiently secure to authenticate payments and passwords, unlike Apple’s Face ID. From the Google Pixel 8 onwards, machine learning has made these more advanced use cases possible, but only in good lighting.
Chris Hall / Foundry
Project Toscana, which is apparently in testing at Google’s Mountain View HQ, actually improves on Face ID by using just a single hole-punch camera cutout to achieve secure biometric authentication in all lighting conditions. The iPhone 17 still uses an extended notch for the job.
The anonymous source cited in the article claims to have used Google’s system and reckons that it works as quickly as Face ID.
Google wouldn’t be the first Android manufacturer to adopt advanced facial recognition into its phones. Honor and Huawei have been using a very similar system to Apple for some years, as seen in the recent Honor Magic 8 Pro.
Google itself experimented with a more advanced Face ID system of its own in the Pixel 4, but then dropped it for the Pixel 5.
Of course, none of those phones managed to cram their facial recognition systems into a regular hole-punch notch. It’ll represent real progress if Google can pull it off in time for the Pixel 11.
Google’s adoption of the system would hopefully prompt more Android manufacturers to jump aboard – though admittedly, that doesn’t seem to have worked out for Qi2 adoption.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.