According to the latest pictures, Google tested iris recognition for the Pixel 2 before its release, but it was not equipped in the end.
According to images shared by Internal Archive on Twitter, we can see a prototype of the Pixel 2, as evidenced by various identification stickers and barcodes.
From the front, the device is very similar to the production version of the Pixel 2, except that the 8MP front camera on the top left is replaced by an infrared front camera, and the right side is an infrared LED.
The prototype also comes with an “IrisDemo” app that allows users to “verify” (test) and “enroll” (enroll) the iris by placing their eyes inside two “look here” circles.
Google finally opted for facial recognition on the Pixel 4 series and has since continued to improve it, with the Pixel 7 using depth-based facial recognition. Although iris recognition is not used on mobile phones, Google has expanded the use of iris recognition in the commercial field, and its data center access passes use iris verification.
The iris recognition technology of Google Pixel 2 was not the first in 2017. The earlier Microsoft Lumia 950/950 XL (2015) and Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (2016) implemented this technology, but recently Two-year-old new phones have become less and less used.
