Since late-2016 to September 2017, rumours were rife that Samsung and Apple were in a closely fought race to launch new phones with an on-screen fingerprint sensor. But it never materialised, as the former used the physical sensors on the back of Galaxy S8 and Note8 series, while the latter entirely ditched it for FaceID in the iPhone X. This apparently led many to believe that finger scanners will soon be phased out, as the mobile companies tend to emulate Apple more often than not.
However, world-renowned security firm Synaptics' announcement on December 12 has breathed a fresh lease of life to the on-screen fingerprint sensor development.
The California-based company has confirmed to have created a fully operational on-screen fingerprint sensor dubbed as Clear ID (FS9500) for smartphones and guess what, one of the big five OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) has signed up for the new security system and is already under mass production.
Though there is no specific mention of the company, it did mention that Clear ID will help deliver one-touch high-resolution scanning through full cover glass and enable sleek, button-free, bezel-free infinity displays. The words 'infinity display' was made popular by 2017-series Galaxy S8 and Note8 series, hinting that the company Synaptics referring might actually be Samsung.
Moreover, the South Korean firm is slated to be the first major brand to announce new flagship phone in 2018, as early as February.
It has to be noted that both the Samsung flagship phones, which lacked aforementioned advanced in-screen technology, they came with fingerprints sensor on the back, right beside the camera inviting criticism from critics and fans for the faulty design, as more often than not, users fingers will touch the camera sensors and get sweaty smudges imprinted on the lens.
However, this game-changing Synaptics biometric technology will set a new precedent in the smartphone industry, as the in-screen fingerprint will allow companies to expand space for display in the front-panel to offer true bezel-less screen with immersive viewing experience.
Here are five salient features of Synaptics Clear ID:
- Clear ID is faster than alternative biometrics such as 3D facial, and very convenient with one-touch/one-step biometric authentication directly in the touchscreen display area of smartphones.
- Synaptics Clear ID In-display fingerprint technology allows users to securely unlock the device in situations including while it's sitting on the table, at any angle, or while in a car mount.
- It boasts SentryPoint technology, offering OEMs a widerange of unique and highly secure authentication features including: Quantum Matcher for adaptive fingerprint template matching and authentication
- It also come with PurePrint™ anti-spoof technology to validate fingerprint images using unique artificial intelligence technology to distinguish between spoofs and actual fingers
- Synaptics Clear ID also boasts SecureLink which combines support for TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol with ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem) authentication and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) symmetric algorithm.
