Samsung Galaxy S9 Will Be The First Phone Ever To Have An In-Display Fingerprint Sensor
The Samsung Galaxy S9, the next iteration in Samsung’s flagship ‘S’ lineup is expected to be launched in late February at MWC or at a special event in March. While there have been multiple rumours and renders suggesting that the Galaxy S9 will have a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, this new announcement puts everything else to rest. Fingerprint sensor manufacturer Synaptics just announced that it has begun mass production with a top-five original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to produce its new Clear ID FS9500 in-display fingerprint sensor.
While the announcement did not specify the specific OEM, it could be Samsung since it is preparing to launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ early next year. Considering that the company mentioned top 5 OEMs, it could be Samsung, Apple and Chinese smartphone makers like Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO. There are high chances that it isn’t Apple since it is working hard on making Face ID the next big thing and is preparing to make it better on the iPhone X and other upcoming iPhones. Introducing Touch ID under the display will make Face ID almost redundant.
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S8
Samsung and Synaptics have a history of working together dating back to 2005 with the Samsung B310. Synaptics is a known Samsung manufacturing partner, and when it announced the FS9100 optical fingerprint sensor, there were rumours that it could come to the Galaxy S8 however, that did not happen.
Another giveaway is the mention of “infinity display” in the announcement statements. In the Synaptics press release, it mentions that the Clear ID fingerprint scanner was designed for phones with “infinity displays,” mentioning that term three times. Samsung uses the term “infinity display” to describe its bezel-less edge-to-edge display on the Galaxy S8, S8+ and Galaxy Note8.
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy Note8
After so many rumours, it appears that Samsung will finally be able to embed the fingerprint sensor in the display and beat the existing industry leaders to it.
