Cameras are a window to the smartphone's future

It's too soon to write off our smartphones as boring.The gadgets are still evolving with new technologies. And for a clue as to what the smartphone of the future might look like, turn your attention to the device's cameras and the software and sensors that make them tick.

Here's a peek into how the camera may come into play: As soon as you pick up your gadget, it will see you and know you are the owner and unlock the screen. Overseas, you will be able to point the camera at a restaurant menu to translate items into your native language.

When shopping for furniture, you can point your phone camera at your living room floor and place a virtual rendering of a coffee table down to see how it looks and move around and peek undern eath it.

Some of this futurism is already starting to happen.

Next month, Apple plans to hold a special event to introduce a set of new iPhones, including a premium model that can scan 3D objects -including your face. Samsung also recently introduced the Galaxy Note 8, highlighting its fast dual-lens camera.

"2018 will be the year where the smartphone camera takes a quantum leap in technology," said PhilipJames Jacobowitz, a product manager for chip maker Qualcomm.

Here's a rundown on what this all means for how your next smartphone will work.

FACE SCANNING

For the past few years, we have become accustomed to unlocking our smartphones by scanning our fingerprints or entering a passcode. But when Apple shows its new iPhones next month, including a premium model, the company will introduce infrared facial recognition as a new method for unlocking the device.

Qualcomm's Spectra, a so-called depth-sensing camera system, is one example of how face scanning works .

The Spectra system includes a module that sprays an object with infrared dots to gather information about the depth of an object based on the size and the contortion of the dots. If the dots are smaller, then the object is farther away; if they are bigger, the object is closer. The imaging system can then stitch the patterns into a detailed 3D image of your face to determine if you are indeed the owner of your smartphone before unlocking it.

AUGMENTED REALITY

Depth-sensing cameras may be crucial to enhancing augmented reality. Next month, Apple will release iOS 11, its next mobile OS that includes support for apps made with ARKit, a tool kit for app developers to easily create AR apps. All the tech giants are betting big on augmented reality. For years, Microsoft has been developing HoloLens, an augmentedreality headset. In April, Facebook announced Camera Effects Platform, an environment for software developers to build AR apps for Facebook.This week, Google unv eiled ARCore, an augmented-reality tool kit for Android devices, in response to Apple's ARKit.

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