Not everyone is a fan of it, but it’s hard to argue convincingly that facial recognition isn’t going to play a role in the future of technology.

The newest Apple iPhones and Android smartphones have built-in facial recognition features that can unlock your device, but you would be wrong to think that the reliability and accuracy of the features is comparable.

After all, in the past, owners of Samsung Android phones have demonstrated how devices can be unlocked by pointing it at the face of a sleeping person or even with just a photograph.

It’s true to say that the facial recognition technology built into handsets has improved in recent years. And as it has become more reliable, more users are likely to use it as their primary method of unlocking a phone rather than having to remember a sequence of numbers or a password.

Forbes journalist Thomas Brewster wanted to find out just how well a variety of Android phones and a top-of-the-range Apple iPhone would fare against a determined attempt to break facial recognition.

And he did that by having a 3D-model printed of his head.

As Brewster explains, he engaged the services of a small British company in Birmingham to create a spooky life-size 3D print of his own head for just over £300.

For the price, it’s an impressive likeness, but it’s not enough to fool any human into thinking they are looking at the real Thomas Brewster.

But could a smartphone be fooled?

To find out, Brewster registered his own (real) face with five different phones: An iPhone X, an LG G7 Linq, a Samsung S9, a Samsung Note 8 and a OnePlus 6.

With facial recognition setup, all he had to do was see if his fake head would be convincing enough to (Read more...)