14 DAY TRIAL // 3D sensing technology similar to the one currently available on the iPhone X won’t make its way to Android devices until 2019 the earliest, not because OEMs don’t want to, but due to the shortages caused by the currently limited production capacity.
Apple has already secured a big part of the supply chain, and with the company expected to launch three different iPhone models this year, all of which would feature Face ID facial recognition system and thus require 3D sensing camera, it could eat up the entire output until at least next year.
Three of the companies building such systems, namely Viavi Solutions Inc, Finisar Corp, and Ams AG, told Reuters that while the feature is projected to launch on Android devices as well, it’ll take some 12 months before this happens. The first Android phones getting 3D sensing cameras will go on sale in 2019, but only a few of them will get such capabilities, most likely from high-end manufacturers like Samsung.
High costs
“It is going to take them a lot of time, the Android-based customers, to secure capacity throughout the who supply chain. We may have a potential introduction of a second handset maker into 3D sensing at the end of this calendar year. [But] the volumes would be very low. In 2019 you clearly will see at least two or more Android-based phones [with the technology.],” Bill Ong, senior director of investor relations from Viavi, said.
“Each customer has their own adoption timeline and rollout plan, which we can’t discuss, but we expect the market opportunity for VCSEL technology to increase substantially in 2019,” Craig Thompson, VP of new markets at Finisar, continued.
A recent report indicated that one of the main setbacks for Android makers to embrace 3D sensing cameras was the high cost of these modules. With a price between $30 and $50 unit, only makers of high-end Android phones could afford to buy such technology without substantially increasing the final price, though for the time being, the constrained supply seems to keep everyone away.