As was being speculated for some time, Vivo has demoed an on-screen fingerprint scanning technology at the Mobile World Congress event in Shanghai. The ‘Under Display Fingerprint Scanning Solution’ is still in the concept stages though and is expected to debut in future high-end Vivo devices.
Based on Qualcomm’s Fingerprint Sensors technology, the feature works on the principle of using ultrasonic sound waves to create a 3D image of your fingerprint. While Vivo used a Xplay 6 phone with the sensor placed underneath the display, the same can be placed beneath a metal surface as well.
This, in fact, opens up new vistas for future mobile phones where the fingerprint sensor need not only be embedded within the front display. The same can be placed along the phone’s rear as well. Or maybe the future mobile device will have its entire front and back serving as a biometric authentication surface. Merely holding the device will be enough to unlock the same.
Further, the system even allows the entire front display to serve as a fingerprint scanner though that again makes for a costly proposition. However, as the Chinese phone maker claimed, the system even works underwater, thereby enabling development of full screen, waterproof phones in future.
Another interesting point to note is that the new Qualcomm fingerprint scanning tech is also able to detect blood flow and heartbeat as well. That makes it fit for application in smart wearables devices of future.
Mobile makers meanwhile are currently engaged in a mad race to launch the first handset featuring an on-screen finger print solution. The upcoming Apple iPhone 8 is hotly anticipated to have such a feature.
Samsung too was speculated to have an embedded fingerprint sensor in its forthcoming Note 8 device though that seems to have been debunked at the last stage owing to some technical issues.
Qualcomm meanwhile stated such a feature will start becoming commonplace from 2018 onwards as its future Snapdragon chips will have the technology integrated into it. That said, the technology will also be available on a standalone basis for integration in devices that are not built around the future Snapdragon chips.
