The company has not detailed how this technology works, but it is believed to be similar to the process used in the Pixel 4, where a 3D image of the user's face was taken during the Face Unlock setup and a unique token was created and stored in the phone's Titan Security Module. This feature is seen as a significant advantage for Google, as 3D biometric security is a highly convenient security feature. The speed and accuracy of face recognition in the new Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will be tested once the handsets are available.
Key takeaways:
- Google has upgraded its Face Unlock technology in the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro to be secure enough to authorize payments and sign into banking apps.
- The new Face Unlock technology does not require additional hardware outside of the selfie camera and is powered by Tensor’s advanced machine learning.
- Google's Face Unlock technology works by taking a 3D image of the user’s face during the setup, from which a unique token is created and stored in the phone’s Titan Security Module for identity verification.
- The upgraded Face Unlock technology is a significant step forward for how AI is used in smartphones and is considered faster, less cumbersome and more consistently accurate than a fingerprint reader.