600 Million Smartphones Will Have Vision-Based Gesture Recognition Features in 2017

Gestures are ingrained in human communication and it is virtually impossible to communicate with someone without moving your hands or gesticulating with your fingers while in conversation. Gesture recognition technology adds another dimension to our interactions with machines, devices, or computers. A new study from ABI Research forecasts 600 million smartphones will be shipped with vision-based gesture recognition features in 2017.

“Gesture recognition is a very exciting prospect, particularly for smartphones and tablets,” says ABI Research senior analyst Josh Flood. “These devices are already heavily entrenched into peoples’ lives and another communication interface is always very welcome”.

Camera-based tracking for gesture recognition has actually been in use for some time. Leading game consoles – Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation – both have gesture recognition equipment; Kinect and PlayStation Eye respectively. These devices are in their seventh and eighth generation. Several challenges remain for gesture recognition technology for mobile devices, including effectiveness of the technology in adverse light conditions, variations in the background, and high power consumption. However, it is believed these problems can be overcome with different tracking solutions and new technologies.

Qualcomm has been heavily promoting its Snapdragon chipset processors’ visional gesture recognition technology in 2012. Intel has primarily focused upon touch capabilities for its notebooks and ultrabooks this year. Nevertheless, the company’s senior management has acknowledged gesture and voice recognition will be a “big deal” in the computing sector next year.

Currently, only a small number of the smartphones shipped have gesture recognition. Pantech, a Korean smartphone OEM, began selling its Vega LTE handset in Korea during November 2011 with gesture recognition technology using camera-based tracking. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will offer smartphone OEMs the ability to have camera, infrared, and ultrasound based tracking. These tracking solutions give smartphone OEMs and app designers some attractive techniques for new interactions and enhancing the users experience. Additionally, gesture recognition will be useful for media tablets, portable media players, and portable game players. It is projected a higher percentage of media tablets will have the technology than smartphones.

The report also provides further details on the market for gesture recognition sensors in smartphones, tablets, portable media players, portable game players, and game consoles. These findings are part of ABI Research’s Mobile Device Enabling Technologies Research Service, which analyzes the technology segments affecting growth and segmentation in the global mobile devices marketplace.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 40+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.