Why did Android flagships completely abandon LiDAR / 3D depth sensors?
I’ve been looking into getting a phone for some casual 3D room scanning and camera motion tracking for VFX/projects, and it’s honestly kind of crazy that if you want actual 3D depth hardware, you basically
have to buy an iPhone Pro.
I know a few years ago some Android flagships (like the Galaxy S20 Ultra or Note 20) used to have ToF (Time of Flight) sensors, but it seems like every single Android OEM completely phased them out. Now, everything relies on Google ARCore and pure software/AI depth tracking.
For standard photography, the AI and laser autofocus work totally fine. But for actual spatial tracking and AR apps, pure software still feels a bit janky and prone to drifting/glitching compared to dedicated hardware.
Do you think any Android company will ever bring back proper 3D depth sensors to the rear cameras, or is the industry totally settled on letting software handle it all? If you're doing any 3D scanning or motion tracking on Android right now, what's your current setup or workaround?
https://redd.it/1uos776@reddit_android
