Is Apple’s Next iPhone Going To Have 3D Selfies?

We could be seeing something very exciting with this year’s next Apple iPhone release.

The tech giant was awarded a patent for advanced facial recognition technology and now many think these features will be seen on he iPhone 8 coming later this year.

Augmented reality could be a big part of smart phone’s future and according to Top Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 8 would feature a camera and infrared module that can detect faces and even lead to 3D selfies which could then be used to replace a character’s face in a game, for example.

Although Apple has yet to mention the iPhone 8 in the document in its patent filing for an “enhanced face detection using depth information,” analysts can’t help but be excited about the possibility.

JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall even published a report and has said the iPhone 8 might forgo a fingerprint sensor and home button in favor of a 3-D scanner which could carry out biometric facial scanning.

3D recognition technology could be used for a lot of things.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been a big a fan of augmented reality and has even said, “I think AR is that big,” back in February.

“For example, the methods described herein may be applied in detecting the locations of the hands in an image of a user of a gesture-controlled computerized system, so that the posture and motions of the hand can be recognized quickly and reliably. As another example, these methods may be used in a vehicle-mounted system for automatic detection and reading of traffic signs,” Apple said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and have not been compensated for this article.