FUTURE STUFF IN DISPLAY FINGERPRINT READERS

THE SENSOR HAS TO PEEK THROUGH THE PIXELS TO PICK OUT YOUR JABBING THUMB

Matt Tate is fed up of Face ID, and yearns for the days of proddin and pokin his smartphone awake

Things move quickly in the world of tech. You’re probably still getting used to using your grimacing mush to unlock your phone, but that’s old news. Brave as Apple undoubtedly was to bin its Touch Id-enabled home button on the iphone X to accommodate that bezel-crushing display, some people just prefer having the option.

The edge-to-edge craze has seen various phone-makers place scanners on the back or side of their handsets, but it was inevitable that someone would eventually figure out how to build them into the screen.

The most interesting thing to come out of the giant Las Vegas tech-fest of CES this year was Synaptics’ optical in-display fingerprint sensor. It only works with OLED panels, as it essentially has to peek through the pixels to pick out your jabbing thumb. LCDS are backlit, so that’s a non-starter.

Synaptics’ Clear ID looks impressive, but nobody will care if it doesn’t work. You only have to delay a queue of Tube commuters once to know that anything other than instant results won’t do. With third-party screen protectors, scratches and crisp crumbs all being potential enemies, consumers will want to see how this tech fares in the wild before they’re convinced.

Well, the China-only Vivo X20 Plus UD is the first smartphone in the world to feature Synaptics’ sensor. The phone ships with a special screen protector, suggesting there is a specific thickness needed for it to work, but otherwise reports have been generally positive. It’s surely only a matter of time before one of the major players gets involved.