EXCLUSIVE: Metalenz has found a way to make facial recognition invisible

We all are Familiar with the notch – the ugly cutout that has characterized many smartphones for years, e.g iPhone or LG G7.

The notch has largely been replaced in today’s smartphones with floating, punch-hole cameras that take up less space and look more futuristic, although notches are still prevalent on some laptops, such as Apple’s. MacBooks.

On iPhones, Apple calls the floating, pill-shaped camera system Dynamic Island, which first appeared on iPhones iPhone 14. The iPhone still has the largest camera aperture today, thanks to the Face ID biometric authentication system. (except Google Pixel phonesthe vast majority of Android phones Do not provide a Equivalent to secure facial authenticationso they don’t need a huge camera hole.) However, this island could become much smaller, thanks to new under-screen camera technology announced in Show week 2026 from Metalinsan optical startup company from Boston.

An introductory book on metasurfaces

Metalenz’s optical surface technology is a flat lens system that uses a fraction of the space of traditional multi-lens elements in most smartphones. You can Read more about it in our original coverage of the company hereBut in short, instead of refracting light through multiple plastic or glass lens elements — which improves image clarity, corrects aberrations, and brings more light to the camera sensor — metasurfaces use a single nanostructured lens to bend light rays toward the sensors.

Metalenz says more than 300 million of its Super Surfaces are already in use in consumer devices today, replacing traditional bulky optics in time-of-flight sensors that capture depth information and aid in camera autofocus.

The company also pioneered the way these metasurfaces were used Capture polarization data. When light hits an object with specific physical properties, it creates a unique polarization signature. Light reflected from black ice has a different polarization signature than light reflected from a road. Using machine learning algorithms, this enables a system that can quickly identify black ice on the road and alert the driver.

Photo: Courtesy of Metalins

That’s why the company has evolved Polarity identifiera facial authentication platform that competes with Apple’s Face ID. Through polarization data, its sensors can distinguish a real face from someone wearing an eerily accurate 3D mask of the same person, because the polarization information from light bouncing off human skin is unique compared to light bouncing off the silicone of a mask. Yes, it’s more secure than Google’s face unlock system on the Pixels, which can be tricked with a high-quality 3D mask.