When Qualcomm took to the stage last December to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 — itself a massive rebrand for the long-running flagship chipset series — one of the most surprising and intriguing features was that it could enable phones to have an “always-on camera.” In retrospect, that branding was never going to work: whether or not Qualcomm’s intentions were pure, any excitement that this sort of facial detection may have initially delivered on was immediately tuned out by talk of Big Brother. Describing any camera as “always-on” was bound to strike fear into the hearts of security-minded experts everywhere — and with good reason.
Frankly, the noise made surrounding it was fairly overblown — you don’t have to look far to find spirited defenses of it. As former AP editor Ryne Hager explained at the time, once you understood the narrow scope of Qualcomm’s goals, it was easy to brush aside most security concerns.
So this year, for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm decided to retool and relaunch, rebranding the feature as the “always-sensing camera.” It’s unclear whether this new name will help mitigate any privacy or security concerns moving forward though, anecdotally, I’m not seeing nearly as much FUD from tech media, even as the always-sensing camera is now capable of so much more than before.
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Last year, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was capable of exactly one thing: determining whether a face is present in the frame. While the company promised more features were coming down the road, the initial version of the always-sensing camera was an incredibly simple one, and that was by design. This year, I think what Qualcomm has to offer keeps the same level of security — again, essential whenever you’re discussing camera features — while reaching Google-esque levels of intelligence about the world around you.
Facial recognition is still the marquee item, but it’s far more advanced. No, Qualcomm still can’t tell the difference between your face and the face of a total stranger — you could say the lack of capability provides the security here. But Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 smartphones will be capable of performing specific actions when a new face enters the frame. These aren’t hypothetical situations, either — these are real use cases that should translate to a smarter, better experience.
For example, if a stranger is peering over your shoulder, your phone can alert you of their presence and even black out the screen entirely. This isn’t just for your own privacy’s sake — if you’re watching some video and the camera detects a person behind you, it can kick on Do Not Disturb mode to prevent them from reading any incoming toast notifications
Qualcomm’s always-sensing demo at Snapdragon Summit.
Instant QR code reading promised last year is finally here, too. Forget unlocking your phone at a restaurant — scanning requires nothing more than holding the device in front of the code, even when the screen is off.
These types of features are reminiscent of what we’ve seen from Google on recent Pixel phones. They optimize specific advances in power efficiency and sensing technology while using a dash of discretion on when it comes to setting action thresholds to make small, but noticeable changes to the little things you do every single day.
Crucially, though, no photos are actually captured to use this feature. There’s no image output, no video recording — it’s a binary yes-or-no data point that never leaves the chip’s closed-off Sensing Hub. In another sense, it’s context-aware light switch and it knows what to do when you flip it.
If smartphones are increasingly focused on becoming your intelligent handheld assistant, this is the kind of progress we need to see moving forward. After all, making your life easier is what has set the Pixel apart from the rest of the pack. With its latest processor, Qualcomm looks prepared to bring that power and utility to dozens of the best Android phones in 2023.
