Has Apple acquired Israel face recognition company to prepare for iPhone 8?

According to Israel's business news website Calcalist, Apple has bought RealFace, an Israeli start-up company, which uses face recognition to complete user authorization without having to type in passwords or fingerprints.

It is estimated that the transaction is worth about millions of dollars.

Apple has not immediately commented. But the Israeli technology company database Startup Nation Central said that apple did buy RealFace this month. The RealFace site was offline last Sunday, and the contact information was not available.

RealFace, based in Tel Aviv, launched its first product, Pickeez, in 2014, using its RealFace recognition software to pick the best photos of users from multiple platforms.

Apple iOS 10 has applied facial recognition software to photos, but recently it has been rumored that the company hopes to use facial recognition as an authentication tool.

Several web sites reported that the rumored iPhone 8 might have built-in iris scanning, which would allow users to unlock their phones as long as they stared at the scanner. Other reports say the next generation of iPhone will include technologies like RealFace to replace or supplement existing Touch ID fingerprint scanner authentication systems.

According to Startup Nation Central data, before the acquisition of apple, RealFace cumulative financing of $1 million, a total of 10 employees. The company's customers are from China, Israel, Europe and the United states.

Calcalist said it would be the fourth acquisition of apple in israel. The company previously acquired Flash Maker Anobit in 2011 and acquired 3D sensor company PrimeSense in 2013 and acquired LinX, a camera technology firm, in 2015.

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