Will Pixel 6 Pro still get facial recognition?

Google Pixel 6 Pro does get facial recognition, though, so you can unlock your phone with just a quick scan of your face. At least that’s what the website 9to5Google reports following conversations with sources who would know more about it. While it’s good news if the rumor is true, it’s also a shame that it only applies to the Pixel 6 Pro: the Pixel 6 essentially has the same hardware and so should technically be able to.

Face recognition

Unlocking a phone with a face scan would be more secure than, say, a fingerprint or number code, making it a welcome addition to Google’s high-end smartphone. Previously, advertising material appeared that indicated that this could well come to Google Pixel 6 Pro, so it does not come as a surprise. The question remains: why was this not already announced and present at launch?

The Pixel phones both have hardware to do this. The Pixel 6 has an 8-megapixel selfie camera and the Pixel 6 Pro has an 11.1-megapixel camera. The field of view of the camera on the Pixel 6 Pro is larger, but both devices have no hardware that provides facial recognition. Google should therefore rely purely on the front camera. That is remarkable, because Pixel 4 did have that: it used the Soli radar.

Pixel 6 Pro

For now, we’ll have to make use of the under-display fingerprint scanner, but it’s hoped that facial recognition will come to the Pixel 6 Pro soon. There will probably never be an answer to the question why we are only getting this ‘now’. If Google does choose to announce it’s coming, it will probably focus on the fact that it can, rather than the road to get there.

So we will probably get facial recognition on Google Pixel 6 Pro soon, because it would already come in the next major quarterly update. Would Google also announce that during Google I/O? That event will take place on May 11.