Facial Recognition Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Facial Recognition Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Facial Recognition Market was valued at USD 3.72 billion in 2020, and is projected to be valued at USD 11.62 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of approximately 21.71% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Since the outbreak of Covid-19, vendors across the world have already upgraded their algorithms to accommodate new set of changes and norms. For instance, according to a study by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that, several algorithms, reconfigured since the pandemic began, make far fewer mistakes when analysing masked faces. In some cases, error rates were ten times better than before.

Moreover, during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, authorities have used facial recognition, combined with infrared cameras, to recognize infected people. Also, Chinese intelligent interaction company, Hanwang Technology, developed a facial recognition technology that can identify people wearing masks, as the use of masks hindered the operation of the technology in the country.

Key Highlights

• China is one of the major consumers and exporters of the facial recognition technology, as the law and enforcement, along with various government bodies in the country, adopted surveillance technologies. Currently, the country has the most extensive public surveillance system. According to Comparitech, in China, the number of CCTV cameras ranges from 200 million to 626 million by 2020.
• Furthermore, in March 2020, India approved the deployment of its Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) across the nation by early 2021, allowing facial biometrics to be extracted from video and CCTV which will be matched with the image of individuals' photos whose identity information are housed in a database by the National Crime Records Bureau under the purview of the Minister of State for Home Affairs.
• Also, the Indian government's Aadhaar project is one of the largest biometric databases globally, and it is currently held by over 95% of the country's population, which is over 1.3 billion. The UIDAI contains a citizen's fingerprint, facial recognition, and iris. Currently, citizens in the country are actively using the technology for authentication, primarily to avail of various government benefits, processes, and facilities.
• Government initiatives are expected to contribute to the significant growth of such technologies. For instance, the US government is planning to reshape airport security through facial recognition, to register and identify the visitors. Additionally, several North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member banks mandated the use of facial and voice recognition technologies for online identity verification. Companies have been collaborating with federal governments to implement the technology for their surveillance and identity management. The Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, invested USD 600 million in SenseTime, a Hong Kong-based company that provides facial recognition software to businesses and governments across China.
• The increasing use of technology in the different end-user industries is expected to expand the market over the coming years. The applications are increasing in healthcare, automotive, smart home, access control, and many more.

Key Market TrendsRetail and E-commerce is Expected to Hold Significant Share

• While Facial recognition technology did not absorb a huge demand from the retail industry initially, it provided the adequate potential for the technology over the past few years.
• The advancement in three technical fields, like Neural Network, Big Data, and Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) has played a significant role in the widespread use of Facial Recognition Technology in the sector. For instance, apparel retailers are leveraging the technology to deliver customized products to the customers visiting their stores.
• Vero Modaand Jack & Jones, the brands owned by Danish fashion retailer, opened smart stores powered with facial recognition technology, in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China. The technology, provided by Tencent's YouTuLab, enables making payment without using any cash or card and allows to pass on personalized recommendations to the customers.
• FaceX, a company based out of India, is a provider of facial recognition technology that is helping the retail sector with features, like a facial landmark, facial detection, face recognition, face tracking, and spoof detection. In addition to these, in a bid to pass on personalized touch to the customers, the technology also greets the customers upon entering the retail store.
• Likewise, Ruti, a brand focused on women apparel (35 years and older), deployed facial recognition technology in its stores to offer personalized recommendations based on its preferences, like sizes, likes, and dislikes. Upon entering the store, the customers' faces are scanned. The photos (including the items related to purchase if one made) from the installed cameras are stored in the retailer's CRM system, on customers' approval. Thereby, it can identify customers’ profiles and repeat customers, traces their shopping history within seconds.

Asia-Pacific is Expected to Register Fastest Growth

• The Asia-Pacific is the most prominent region for the adoption of facial recognition, owing to factors, such as technological development, rising in infrastructure growth, and the increasing application in numerous areas. Massive industrialization and the growing consumer electronics industry in the region highlight the exciting opportunities for the players in the market and the scope for significant growth.
• Since long, China has used facial recognition technology and built a giant database for facial identification of its population of more than 1.3 billion. Besides, the country has had several partnerships within the country that have helped maintain China’s domination over the global physical security equipment market.
• Further, the country has deployed facial recognition glasses for the country’s police force, to spot citizens and tourists, and use real-time ID authentication to primarily fight crimes during time of celebrations.
• Also, the country is embracing facial authenticated payments. AliPay, China’s biggest payment app, started a trial for the smile-to-pay feature at a branch of KFC in Southern China, which uses facial recognition to identify the customer and automatically charges them through the app.
• With increasing urban population and increased purchasing power, Asia-Pacific is one of the largest markets for consumer biometrics. Increasing mobile transactions for banking in countries, such as India and China, coupled with their governments’ initiatives, are expected to be the major drivers for the facial recognition market in the region.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive rivalry in the facial recognition market is moderately fragmented, despite the presence of significant players operating in the market, such as NEC Corporation, Gemalto NV, and Panasonic Corporation, etc. With the number of startups growing at a substantial rate in the study market, the market is expected to witness a highly competitive scenario shortly.

• June 2020 - Panasonic Corporation of North America and PopID, a Cali Group company, partnered to bring facial recognition ordering and payment processes to both the restaurant and retail industries. Under the terms of the agreement between the parties, PopID and PopPay will be fully integrated into the Panasonic ClearConnect Kiosk application, and Panasonic will have preferential rights in the kiosk market.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Panasonic Corporation
Thales Group 
NEC Corporation
Cognitec Systems GmbH
Aware Inc.
FacePhi Biometria SA
Animetrics Inc.
Ayonix Corporation
Face First Inc.
Idemia France SAS
Daon Inc.

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