Facial Recognition Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the facial recognition market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global facial recognition market reached a value of nearly $6.1 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.3% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $6.1 billion in 2023 to $13.8 billion in 2028 at a rate of 17.7%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2028 and reach $28.9 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the growing importance of the surveillance industry, rise in incidence of robberies and crime rates, rise in data security breaches and growing number of internet users. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period was rise in privacy and security concerns.

Going forward, government support, increasing penetration of smartphones, growing e-commerce sector and rising urbanization will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the facial recognition market in the future include high implementation cost.

The facial recognition market is segmented by technology into 2D, 3D and facial analytics. The 3D market was the largest segment of the facial recognition market segmented by technology, accounting for 50.5% or $3.1 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the facial analytics segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the facial recognition market segmented by technology, at a CAGR of 24.5% during 2023-2028.

The facial recognition market is segmented by application into emotion recognition, attendance tracking and monitoring, access control, security and surveillance and other applications. The access control market was the largest segment of the facial recognition market segmented by application, accounting for 36% or $2.2 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the security and surveillance segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the facial recognition market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 19% during 2023-2028.

The facial recognition market is segmented by end-user into retail and e-commerce, media and entertainment, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), automobile and transportation, telecom and information technology (IT), government, healthcare and other end-users. The retail and e-commerce market was the largest segment of the facial recognition market segmented by end-user, accounting for 22.2% or $1.4 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the healthcare segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the facial recognition market segmented by end-user, at a CAGR of 21% during 2023-2028.

North America was the largest region in the facial recognition market, accounting for 35% or $2.1 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the facial recognition market will be Middle East and Africa where growth will be at CAGRs of 24.7% and 24.4% respectively. These will be followed by Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 21.5% and 18.8% respectively.

The global facial recognition market is fairly fragmented, with a large number of players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 10.93% of the total market in 2022. NEC Corporation was the largest competitor with 4.80% share of the market, followed by Thales Group with 2.26%, Microsoft Corporation with 1.21%, IDEMIA with 0.90%, Onfido Ltd. with 0.67%, Cognitec Systems GmbH with 0.37%, Kairos AR, Inc. with 0.31%, Ayonix Corporation with 0.14%, Daon Inc. with 0.14%, and Herta Security with 0.13%.

The top opportunities in the facial recognition market segmented by technology will arise in the 3D segment, which will gain $4.6 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the facial recognition market segmented by application will arise in the access control segment, which will gain $2.8 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the facial recognition market segmented by end-user will arise in the retail and e-commerce segment, which will gain $1.9 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The facial recognition market size will gain the most in the USA at $2 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the facial recognition market include integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in facial recognition to improve accuracy, use of background-check databases for better-informed decisions, strategic partnerships and collaborations among market players and innovative product launches with a focus on law enforcement investigations.

Player-adopted strategies in the facial recognition market include focus on strategic partnerships to better serve the industry and to strengthen their position and enhancing business operations and strengthening operational capabilities through new product developments and launches.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the facial recognition companies to focus on AI integration in facial recognition, focus on background-check databases for enhanced facial recognition, focus on specialized products for law enforcement investigations, focus on 3D and facial analytics segments, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on strategic partnerships for market expansion, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on strategic pricing strategies for market leadership, participate in trade shows and events, continue to use B2B promotions, prioritize technical webinars for thought leadership, focus on security and surveillance and access control segments and focus on healthcare and retail and e-commerce segments.