At the MWC-17 in Shanghai, Qualcomm showcased the most awaited technology for on-screen fingerprint sensor. Many OEM's like Samsung and Apple were in the race for on-screen sensor however, Samsung probably was not successful in implementing it therefore resulted in the awkward placement of fingerprint sensor on the S8 and S8 plus. Apple's iPhone 8 is expected to have it although nothing is certain yet as some rumors have pointed to rear mounted sensor.
Qualcomm on the other hand along with Vivo got the breakthrough for on-screen sensor. They showcased it on the Vivo X-Play 6.
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| Image from BGR.in showing the on-screen sensor |
Qualcomm calls it as the advanced fingerprint scanning and authentication technology. It is capable of scanning through thick glass, display and metal with underwater usability. This tech can also be used for detection of heart beat and blood flow. Earlier, Samsung embedded the heart rate sensor alongside the camera module, now with the help of this technology, a separate visible sensor is not required. However, the deciding factor will be the accuracy which is solely on the manufacturer.
It will be the first commercially announced ultrasonic sensor which can scan through OLED stacks upto 1200 micro meter distance. This is against the present range of 400 micro meter (in glass and metal) which indicates that the sensor is present at any specified area within the display.
It can also scan through glass and metal upto 800 micro meter and 650 micro meter. This technology will be available for Snapdragon based as well as non-Snapdragon based devices. The fingerprint sensors will also be compatible with the recently announced Snapdragon 660 and 630 SOC. The technology related to embedding the sensor within display , glass and metal will be available with later versions of SOC's. This indicates, that in near future we will be able to see the sensors embedded within the screen even in midrange devices.
Qualcomm claims that this technology will be implemented in commercial devices by the first half of 2018. If Samsung or Apple gets the tech right then we can see another implementation by the end of this year i.e in Apple iPhone 8. The device that was used for demo was Vivo X-Play 6 which was a modified version of the originally launched device.
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