Apple's iPhone Face ID will meet its match with Google's Pixel 4 smartphone expected in October (AAPL, GOOGL)

• Google is giving its upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone facial recognition, and it's looking like it'll be better than Apple's Face ID on iPhones. 
• Most phone facial-recognition systems, including the iPhone's Face ID, require users to place the phone directly in front of their faces. 
• From Google's description, the Pixel 4's facial recognition will recognize your face while you're picking up the phone, so you won't have to put the Pixel 4 directly in front on your face. 
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Facial recognition has been notably absent on Google's Pixel devices so far, but Google is set to change that in a big way with the Pixel 4. 

Google teased that facial recognition is coming to its upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone expected in October, and it already seems better than any existing facial recognition system for unlocking smartphones, including Apple's Face ID. 

For facial recognition, Google is using radar technology created by an internal project called "Project Soli" that it's been working on for five years. 

"As you reach for Pixel 4, Soli proactively turns on the face unlock sensors, recognizing that you may want to unlock your phone," Google said in its teaser blog post. "If the face unlock sensors and algorithms recognize you, the phone will open as you pick it up, all in one motion."

Read more: There's a new feature coming to the Pixel 4 that has never been successful on any other smartphone — but Google could be the first to actually pull it off

Based on what Google is saying in its blog post, the Pixel 4's facial recognition will be able to scan and recognize your face while you're picking it up. To compare, Apple's Face ID and other facial recognition systems require you to place your phone directly in front of your face before you can unlock the phone. 

The Pixel 4's facial recognition will also work whichever way you hold it, Google says, "even if you're holding it upside down."

As with every claim, we'll have to make sure it checks out when the Pixel 4 lands in our hands. 

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