MetaOptics Ships Metalens Smartphone With Contactless 3D Fingerprint Module

MetaOptics has begun shipping evaluation units of a 5G smartphone built around its metalens optics, including a contactless module the company says reads a high-resolution 3D fingerprint through the display. The Singapore-based firm is sending the phones, along with metalens AI smart glasses, to prospective customers in Europe, Japan, and the Philippines for testing in their own development environments.

Metalenses use a single ultra-thin optical layer in place of the stacked, multi-element lenses found in conventional cameras, which MetaOptics says allows thinner, smaller, and more heat-resistant modules. The company designs and manufactures the components using semiconductor processes on 4-inch and 12-inch platforms, and is positioning them for use across smartphones, wearables, automotive sensing, and other applications. Its broader portfolio spans metalenses, camera modules, manufacturing equipment, and connected-device products, which it says customers integrate into uses ranging from contactless 3D biometrics to AR and VR devices and automotive sensing.

On the smartphone evaluation unit, the metalens module enables a flat, bump-free back cover and a front-facing color camera for video calls, while a separate non-contact metalens module handles biometrics. According to MetaOptics, that module detects a high-resolution 3D fingerprint through the display for touch-free authentication, and the device runs on Qualcomm’s Dragonwing QCM6490 platform. The accompanying AI smart glasses use a color metalens camera for gesture-based control and run on Qualcomm’s AR1 Snapdragon platform.

The shipments build on MetaOptics’ earlier biometric work, from the contactless 3D fingerprint sensor it first showcased using metalens technology at CES 2025 to a more recent effort to shrink the non-contact fingerprint module toward smartphone integration. The company, founded in 2021, said it has completed the design of a next-generation 12-megapixel color metalens camera module that it plans to show at CES 2027, and that it intends to extend the evaluation program to more customers and markets over time.

“Shipping evaluation units to customers is a defining step in our journey from showcase to mass adoption,” said MetaOptics Executive Chairman Thng Chong Kim, who said feedback from the early customers would help refine the products. As evaluation units, the devices are intended for assessment and integration by consumer electronics brands, telecom operators, and original design manufacturers rather than as finished consumer products.

Sources: MetaOptics

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team