MWC 2018: Egis Covers its Bases with In-Display Sensor, Facial Recognition Solutions

Egis Technology is showcasing in-display fingerprint sensor technology at this week’s Mobile World Congress. The company is showing off a sensor designed for implementation under an OLED display, allowing end users to scan their fingers on the device display itself.

It’s a timely follow-up to Egis’s showcase of under-glass fingerprint sensor technology at last year’s MWC. That innovation was on the leading edge of mobile biometric technology at the time, in the ensuing months the quest for sensors that could actually be embedded in a device’s display intensified among various interests. Speculation and rumor held that both Samsung and Apple were trying to get fingerprint scanning into their new devices for autumn of 2017; and while both failed – if they were trying to do that in the first place – Vivo closed the year with its announcement that it would deliver the first smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor in early 2018.

Now, with that device on the market, it isn’t clear whether in-display technology is the game-changer it was thought to be. Apple may have shifted the industry toward facial recognition with its launch of Face ID on the iPhone X, and Samsung has followed through by improving its facial recognition technology for its Galaxy S9, which combines the technology with iris reading. But Egis has its bases covered: The company is also taking advantage of MWC to showcase a facial recognition system “based on depth sensing technologies,” according to a statement. Egis says the solution “not only incorporates the latest advancement in biometrics but also enables compelling cost advantages,” a pitch that could appeal to the smartphone makers now looking to emulate Apple’s leadership with more constrained resources.

Egis Technology is showcasing these solutions from booth 1C80 in Hall 1 of Fire Gran Via in Barcelona, where Mobile World Congress will run until March 1st.

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February 26, 2018 – by Alex Perala