Vivo smartphones will be first to feature in-display fingerprint sensor

Vivo smartphones will be first to feature in-display fingerprint sensor

Vivo smartphones will be first to feature in-display fingerprint sensor

Synaptics previously announced that its new Clear ID FS9500 optical in-display fingerprint sensor technology is undergoing mass production with a OEM. Though Synaptics did not reveal the name of the company which will first bring the feature on its smartphones, it hinted that the OEM is among the top five globally. Now analyst Patrick Moorhead, in a Forbes article has revealed that we’ll first see under-display fingerprint reader on vivo smartphones.

Vivo is said to use a 0.7 mm CMOS image sensor underneath OLED display to read fingerprint. The analyst used Clear ID on pre-production vivo smartphone, explaining how it works. He had to press the power button to wake up the phone, post which a fingerprint image illuminated at the bottom of the phone. One simply needs to touch the icon to unlock phone. The Clear ID experience was “fast and simple”, says Moorhead.

“The OLED display illuminates the fingerprint, the sensor scans it and sends it back to the phone’s processor (or host or application processor, depending on your preferred term) to be matched,” the report reads. Synaptics claims the method is twice as fast as 3D facial recognition for unlocking the device. The sensor is also scratch proof and waterproof.

In terms of the security, Moorhead has also clarified that Synaptics has built-in a separate encryption module to the Clear ID sensor while also allowing the hardware to interact with the phone’s processor for authenticating the fingerprint. Developers are provided with the option to add a secondary protection at authentication stage. Synaptics, in a press statement said that the in-display fingerprint sensor is “highly-secure with SentryPoint technology”.

Samsung’s upcoming flagship Galaxy S9 smartphone was previously speculated to be the first device to come with the under-display fingerprint reader. However, Moorhead seemed to have cleared the air confirming it is going to be vivo smartphone instead. Notably, Samsung is the biggest smartphone vendor globally. According to IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, Samsung had 23.3 per cent market share in first quarter of 2017, while vivo grabbed the fifth position with 5.5 per cent total share.