In a tweet on Tuesday, developer Kuba Wojciechowski shared some interesting details he found in Google code, such as the Pixel 7/7 Pro will be equipped with the 3J1 proactive sensor from Samsung. Last year, the company only included this 11MP front camera on the large Pixel 6 Pro model, while the smaller Pixel 6 model only had an 8MP front camera.
But with the 11MP front camera on both the Pixel 7 / 7 Pro, it not only unlocks 4K front camera video recording but also sets the stage for future face-to-unlock functionality.
The Samsung 3J1 is said to support Dual Pixel Autofocus (DPAF) — typically for portrait mode/background bokeh, but also for more accurate and secure face unlock — which has been a major shortcoming of Pixel smartphones in recent years.
While the Pixel 6 Pro also supports DPAF, the move to the Pixel 7 (non-Pro) this year means that Google is treating it as a standard feature.
The face unlocking aspect of the Android camp has not yet reached a level of reliability comparable to Apple’s Face ID facial recognition.
In addition, Kuba Wojciechowski claims that the upcoming Pixel tablet (T6), will follow the same Sony IMX355 sensor (8 MP front and rear cameras / same as the Pixel 3) as of 2018.
