Popular Android phones from Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola and other brands failed a simple facial recognition security test. To understand the magnitude of the failure, the phones were unlocked by holding up photos of the owners’ faces. iPhones (which are equipped with security measures and additional sensors to properly scan users faces) passed the test.
Smartphone facial recognition has long been a joke from a security standpoint because it never held up against tests like these. This is primarily due to a lack of effort from phone designers, who market facial recognition as a convenience to get people to buy their phones.
The phones that failed the facial recognition test include:
- Honor 70.
- Motorola Razr 2022, Motorola Moto E13, Motorola Moto G13, Motorola Moto G23.
- Nokia G60 5G, Nokia X30 5G.
- Oppo A57, Oppo A57s.
- Samsung Galaxy A23 5G, Samsung Galaxy M53 5G.
- Vivo Y76 5G.
- Xiaomi POCO M5, Xiaomi POCO M5s, Xiaomi POCO X5 Pro, Xiaomi 12T, Xiaomi 12T Pro, Xiaomi 12 Lite, Xiaomi 13.
Looking at the front of the phones above reveals nothing more than a camera to take a picture of your face. No dot projectors, proximity sensors, infrared cameras, flood illuminators or anything else that could be used to identify if your face is real vs a picture. iPhones are equipped with all of these sensors (hence the large notch at the top), and they are the only brand of phone that passed this facial recognition security test.
