The analyst believes this key technological advantage will help keep iPhone’s growth rate high throughout 2018 and 2019. Despite the overall positive outlook on the iPhone X, Kuo has revised his sales estimate of the handset from 40 million units to 30 to 35 million. This is likely due to supply constraints as the TrueDepth camera system is leading to the iPhone X production slowing down greatly.
Here’s how the TrueDepth camera works in Face ID:
Once it confirms the presence of an attentive face, the TrueDepth camera projects and reads over 30,000 infrared dots to form a depth map of the face along with a 2D infrared image. This data is used to create a sequence of 2D images and depth maps, which are digitally signed and sent to the Secure Enclave.
To counter both digital and physical spoofs, the TrueDepth camera randomizes the sequence of 2D images and depth map captures and projects a device-specific random pattern.
In addition to Face ID authorization, the TrueDepth camera is also used to facilitate face-tracking features like Animoji—the animated emoji feature Apple showed off during its iPhone event to much fanfare. The iPhone X launches on November 3 for $999.
