You can already unlock your iPhone with a photo of your face, but Apple appears to be getting serious about facial recognition and AI.

Apple has quietly acquired edge-based AI startup Xnor.ai for $200 million, a move first reported by GeekWire that could help the Cupertino company compete with Google in big tech's attempt to move artificial learning out of the cloud. It could position the company.

Xnor.ai is a three-year-old startup that specializes in machine learning and facial recognition programs that run on consumer devices rather than in the cloud. xnor.ai's AI was recently used in Wyze's home security cameras, but was It was removed after the company was acquired by Apple. [However, because cloud-based AI requires the transmission of private communications, such as Siri voice recordings, it is considered more secure to have the feature built into the camera than to rely on the cloud. [The company has a reputation for scooping up innovative startups with sexy technology, like AR glasses maker Akonia Holographics; Xnor.ai made Forbes' list of "Most Promising AI Companies" this September, making it a worthy target It joins Akonia's ranks.

Xnor.ai's technology should give Apple edge computing capabilities, consistent with the company's recent claims about protecting user data.

Google is ahead of Apple in machine learning chips. Google Assistants use chips in the Pixel 4 phone and Nest Mini smart speaker to send voice recordings to the cloud and receive improvements on them.

And while the iPhone's A12 Bionic chip supports some machine learning, the Xnor.ai acquisition suggests that Apple's future smartphones will be more capable of handling AI on their devices.

In a Deloitte report, analysts predict that more than 750 million edge AI chips and computers will be sold this year, mostly in consumer electronics products like smartphones; by 2024, that number is expected to grow to 1.5 billion.

Google, meanwhile, is developing its own edge-based AI initiative, Coral, which exited beta in October and aims to provide prototyping support and modules that can be used beyond consumer electronics.

However, Apple is determined to take command in the AI space, leading all tech companies in AI-related acquisitions in 2019; according to CBInsights, Apple's AI binge has overtaken Google's growth in the category.

So while there is reason to suspect that Xnor's AI-enabled image recognition tools will infiltrate future iPhone and Mac webcams, it is likely not the final play in Apple's bid to surpass Google.