Forthcoming Android phones are widely expected to embrace revolutionary depth-sensing and 3D camera capabilities in order to replace the ageing fingerprint scanner tech.

Apple is all set to add its newly-patented facial-recognition tech to its upcoming iPhone 8, while Android phone makers are seeking Qualcomm's support to offer advanced features on its forthcoming Snapdragon chipsets.

Qualcomm chips
Android phones to get depth-sensing 3D camera tech on upcoming Qualcomm chipsQualcomm

Here's what the American chipset-maker had to say regarding its promise for the next-gen Snapdragon processors: "The next generation of Snapdragons will be overhauled to do more, or at least the same things but faster and more accurately."

The new and advanced Snapdragon processor chipsets are expected to make use of infrared light to calculate depth and render high-resolution depth maps for facial recognition, 3D construction of objects and mapping.

The new camera tech will be reportedly ported to all Snapdragon processor SoCs that will start releasing in early 2018. It may be recalled that the depth-sensing capabilities existed back in 2015 when the Snapdragon 820 chip made its debut and later followed by the Snapdragon 835 on popular devices such as the OnePlus 5, Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11.

The facial recognition system powered by depth-sensing cameras comes with its own set of caveats, as cameras can be fooled by simply showing a photo of the handset's owner.

If you are still not convinced, check out the new camera tech in action, in the Qualcomm video posted here.