2016 marks the beginning of a fundamental leap forward in smartphone hardware: depth-sensing cameras. We’ve already seen accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, cameras, and fingerprint sensors become common on even the most budget-friendly smartphones. And, due to the accelerated hardware arms race between the world’s top manufacturers, we’ll see depth-sensors on some consumer tablets hitting the market this year.
These sensors supplement today’s monocular RGB images with per-pixel depth information (often derived by projecting a pattern of 3D infrared light into a scene). The technology will enable enhanced object, body, facial, and gesture recognition.
