It was first supposedly set to arrive on the Samsung Galaxy S8, but since it was not ready for release back then, the technology is now officially ready for use, courtesy of Qualcomm, who has effectively invented the first under-the-screen fingerprint scanner.
Qualcomm had first revealed its plans at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, claiming that the company will be among the first to deploy the technology for smartphones in the world. It will use ultra-sonic technology that will be fitted under the displays of smartphones’ glass, metal and displays, making the application flexible enough to be used on any part of the phone. It can apparently scan through OLED displays up to 1200um.
Now that Qualcomm will be bringing the fingerprint scanner to mobile phones, the first brand to effectively use them will be Vivo. Users simply need to press their thumb onto the display which would act as the fingerprint reader and then help unlock the device. It is not exactly instant, but takes about a second for the scanner to recognize the fingerprint. This is because the tech is still in its nascent stages of development but should get to the speed of the traditional fingerprint scanners soon enough.
Vivo did mention that the technology could be integrated into the entire display but would make the cost of production of the phone higher than preferred. It would then make sense for companies to employ the technology on maybe the lower half of the screen, where traditional fingerprint scanners are usually placed.
Qualcomm claims that the technology will be better than the traditional kind as it will even be able to scan the fingerprint even if it is obstructed by dirt or sweat. It can also be used underwater as well, meaning that a lot of phones which will come with this scanner will most probably be water-proof phones. The only downside to the technology is that there is still room for development in terms of speed and access. The scanner will also be compatible with all Snapdragon chips, along with some other platforms.
The scanner will be made available in early 2018. Apart from scanning the fingerprint, the tech will also be able to scan the heart-rate and blood flow of the user, providing what Qualcomm calls “improved mobile authentication experiences.” There will be some competition from the likes of Synaptics, who has a similar fingerprint scanner in the works that it has been developing since the first quarter of the year. Even the next iPhone is rumored to be carrying its own fingerprint sensor under its display. Whether the world will get to see the first of these phones carrying the technology as soon as this year is yet to be seen, however.
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