Mi 7 to feature facial recognistion. (Reuters)

The smartphone market has moved away from the fingerprint scanner and the new trend is that of 3D facial recognition. The new entrant that has decided to follow this trend is Xiaomi. As per the report by Chinese tech website My Drivers, the company might go away with a fingerprint scanner and will replace it with a 3D facial recognition. The report said that Xiaomi is apparently not interested in adding an in-display fingerprint scanner in the flagship smartphone. Instead, the company might be looking to add an iPhone X-like 3D-sensing Face ID system.

The report added that both Vivo and Huawei are looking to add in-display fingerprint scanners in their soon to be launched flagship phones. Xiaomi, however, showed no interest in the fingerprint scanner which would be embedded beneath the phone’s screen. If going by this, it means that the company will part ways with a fingerprint scanner and is looking forward to accepting the 3D facial recognition.

Facial recognition technology on a smartphone gained a lot of attraction after the launch of Apple’s flagship iPhone X in which the phone gets unlocked just by looking at it. In 2018, a number of manufacturers including the likes of Huawei and LG are rumoured to bring a 3D facial recognition feature to smartphones. In fact, Huawei has already teased a depth-camera system that’s promised to be more powerful and accurate than the iPhone X’s Face ID.

However, there is not much information about Mi7 currently, but however, it is for sure that the flagship smartphone will be one of the first to sport the Snapdragon 845 processor. The device is expected to look a lot like the company’s Mi Mix 2 with a large bezel-less display and a premium design to complement. The phone is likely to feature a dual-camera system on the rear as well, although exact details are still missing.