Metalenz unveils Polar 3D for ‘richer digital identity’ on smartphones, laptops

Metalenz has unveiled Polar 3D, a new imaging capability that builds on its existing Polar ID facial authentication platform.

The technology is designed to capture lighting-independent facial shape and surface detail from a single image, enabling consumer devices to generate accurate, 3D-ready facial data on-device.

“Polar 3D brings new optical intelligence directly to users,” says Rob Devlin, CEO and Metalenz co-founder. “By capturing polarization information, we’re no longer asking software to guess how light behaves on a face — we’re measuring it, efficiently and on device.”

Polar 3D uses polarization-based imaging to separate diffuse and specular reflections, distinguishing true skin tone and texture from glare or lighting artifacts. This approach reduces reliance on software reconstruction and cloud processing, allowing smartphones, laptops and other devices to process biometric data more efficiently.

“That means realistic relighting, improved rendering and richer digital identity — all without adding hardware complexity,” Devlin says. “Imagine you have the perfect backdrop for a photo, but the sun is in the wrong spot. With Polar 3D, you can keep the backdrop and adjust the lighting to match.”

The system extends the same polarization hardware used in Polar ID, which is designed to prevent spoofing and strengthen trust in facial authentication, with Polar 3D combining authentication with 3D facial capture.

Metalenz positions it as a unified optical platform that can secure identity in physical interactions while supporting more realistic digital representation in applications such as avatars, virtual try-on and online presence. The signal is captured optically at the sensor level, allowing Polar 3D to lower computational demands, obviating the need for multi-angle scans or processor-heavy reconstruction pipelines.

Metalenz plans to demonstrate Polar 3D alongside Polar ID at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which takes place March 2–5. The company is planning for take-off it seems, having reportedly worked with Samsung for a future smartphone that includes facial recognition technology, and partnering with UMC to begin mass production of Polar ID for consumer devices.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  image sensor  |  Metalenz  |  metasurface  |  optical 3D imaging  |  Polar 3D  |  Polar ID