Apple iOS 5 May Bring Face Detection Function to Higher Level

The much awaited new mobile OS - iOS 5 - from the technology giant Apple could come with new face detection feature when it hits the market this Fall.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple may open up the feature via API controls to the developers and if that happens, in the future we can expect loads of apps utilizing the face detection feature to flood the App Store.

This also means that Apple has finally put its 2010 acquisition of Polar Rose, a Swedish company specializing in face recognition to good use.

One of the apps co-developed by Polar Rose is an augmented reality (AR) app called Recognizr, which allows you to point your smartphone camera to your anybody on your contact list and by recognizing his or her face, it will surround it with icons that will let you know of the latest social networking updates made by him or her. One is tempted to wonder, however, whether Recognizr will go down well with privacy advocates.

For the uninitiated, Apple already uses face recognition to tag photos in iPhoto. The Photo Booth app in Mac OS X Lion also uses Polar Rose’s technology to show tweeting birds flying around your head and change parts of your face rather than the entire face but Polar Rose's acquisition could mean Apple plans to use face recognition for newer things.

So don't be surprised to see various new face detection-based apps on the next generation iPhone (dubbed iPhone 5), which is expected to hit the market this September.