https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/6/27/17509036/vivo-faceid-3d-tof-biometrics-mwc-shanghai-2018

Vivo, the Chinese phone maker that’s been on the leading edge of bezel-less phones this year, has today announced another major new piece of technology: a 3D depth-sensing system with 300,000 sensor points, 10 times the number in Apple’s Face ID on the iPhone X. Vivo’s new tech, mounted on the front of the phone next to the selfie cameras, works by sending out a pulse of light and calculating the “time of flight” (TOF) that the light takes to bounce back to its sensor.

The broad term for this type of technology is “structured light,” and it’s something other companies like Oppo have also considered for their phones this year, but none have yet decided it’s worth the added investment and complexity to include it in their phones. Vivo’s demonstration of its TOF 3D sensor at MWC Shanghai this week indicates that it will be among the first Android vendors to step up and compete with Apple’s Face ID directly.