Synaptics Is Ready to Mass-Produce the First Display-Embedded Fingerprint Scanners for 'Tier 1' Phone Maker
Fingerprint sensors embedded within the display has been one of Apple's goals for their new iPhone this year, but they had to settle with dropping the feature before it cost them even more delays. Next year, however, Synaptic is bringing the technology to a "top five" smartphone maker.
The company was more than proud to announce that they cracked the problem, and just in time for next year, too. The company announced via Nasdaq that their Clear ID technology, a family of products that add fingerprint sensors to display screens, will be in mass production in 2018.
Their first batch will be going to an unnamed "Top Five OEM" phone maker too. In many ways, a fingerprint scanner is more convenient and safer than facial or voice recognition, or even iris scanning biometrics.
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"The new Synaptics Clear ID optical fingerprint sensors deliver one-touch high-resolution scanning through full cover glass and enable sleek, button-free, bezel-free infinity displays," Synaptics noted in their announcement, referring in passing to Samsung's name for their 18:9 ratio bezel-less screens.
The top five companies that can be considered smartphone OEMs include Apple, Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo, as ZD Net notes. Of these five, Apple has already gone all-in on their Face ID, and it's looking unlikely that the company will be borrowing this tech for their own use.
After all, it's the same technology that Apple has reportedly struggled with until the end, right until delays might have threatened to put off what would eventually become the iPhone X and iPhone 8.
Synaptics' new technology works in a variety of situations, as the company claims the sensors work even with wet, dry or cold fingers. Since the sensors are buried under the display's glass, it is also protected against water and scratches.
More importantly, it will be much faster than Apple's Face ID. "Synaptics' Clear ID performance is twice as fast as 3D facial recognition and requires only one touch to access your smartphone," the company claimed in their announcement.
