Will The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Have An In-Display Fingerprint Sensor After All?

Samsung is aiming to implement an in-display fingerprint sensor in this year’s new Note smartphone.

We’ve heard this kind of thing before concerning previous devices, with the newly-launched Galaxy S9 being the latest letdown to feature a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor rather than one embedded in the display. But the latest rumors come from anonymous sources speaking to The Korea Herald, which has in the past appeared to act as an outlet for leaks from Samsung. One source says that the subsidiary Samsung Display has developed “three or four” potential solutions for an in-display sensor, one of which is being seriously considered for implementation in the Note 9, expected to launch this August.

Previous reports have suggested that Samsung has struggled in its previous efforts to develop in-display technology, ultimately abandoning it as it has focused more on iris recognition as the primary means of biometric authentication on its flagship devices. But with Vivo now having launched the world’s first smartphone to feature an in-display sensor (with another on the way), there may be greater pressure on Samsung to reassert its leadership in the consumer mobile biometrics industry, especially since Apple appears to have abandoned fingerprint recognition entirely in favor of its high-tech infrared facial recognition technology.

Remarkably, in-display fingerprint scanning might actually be more expensive than Apple’s Face ID technology, according to one analyst speaking at the recent Korea Display Spring Conference. But keeping the fingerprint sensor on the rear of its recent devices has reportedly limited the internal space available for batteries, so switching to in-display tech could ultimately yield advantages in battery life as well.

Meanwhile, an upcoming Huawei device is also expected to implement in-display fingerprint recognition. Many industry watchers had wondered if Apple’s Face ID would prompt a shift in the mobile sector toward facial recognition, and it still might, but that shift doesn’t necessarily have to be away from fingerprint recognition given the latter’s in-display evolution.

Sources: The Korea Herald, TechRadar

—

(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)