The new fingerprint sensor sits under the display, eliminating all necessity of dedicated buttons.
Korean electronics giant, LG, has unveiled a fingerprint sensor integrated with the lower panel of the display. This will eliminate the need for a dedicated button to integrate the fingerprint sensor, as is the practice for most smartphone makers. Alongside, the latest integration means that devices will be more tightly sealed, leading to more commonplace water-resistant devices. At present, smartphones housing a fingerprint sensor either use a dedicated housing for it at the back, or integrate it with the home button on the front.
Announced by LG’s Innotek division, the fingerprint sensor has been slotted into a 0.25mm opening to the back of the cover glass of a display panel. Statistically, the fingerprint sensor has a false acceptance rate of 0.002 percent, which should ideally translate to one missed recognition in 50,000 attempts. The adherence of the sensor to glass is 0.25mm, and should contribute to keeping devices slim. The new way of integrating the fingerprint sensor to the lower end of the display should also eliminate hardware malfunctions of buttons, alongside making devices sleeker on the overall note.
The first phone to integrate a fingerprint sensor on a smartphone was the Motorola Atrix, back in 2011. However, the first mainstream application of the fingerprint sensor came with the Apple iPhone 5s in 2013, with Apple’s Touch ID being integrated with the home button. The feature has since trickled across multiple ranges of smartphones, to the point where even sub-10k smartphones also house fingerprint sensors nowadays. From a special feature available only in flagship devices, fingerprint sensor integration is now looked upon as a necessary element for smartphones across almost all prices.
Hence, it was only natural that a company would innovate to take the technology further, and this is where LG has come in. Changhwan Kim, Head of Research and Development Centre at LG, stated upon the unveiling of the latest sensor, “We are concentrating on all our resources to the development of the differentiated technology based on the creation of customer values. We will continue to provide convenient, safe, and pleasant user experiences by launching innovative product.”
Until now, LG has not mentioned if it plans to integrate the under-display fingerprint sensor in its upcoming devices, only stating to Korea Times that it is “in talks” with smartphone manufacturers to bring the new technology within 2016 itself.
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