It was recently reported that Samsung will ditch the iris scanner on the upcoming Galaxy S10 series and will employ in-display fingerprint sensors on all variants of the flagship device. A few days later, another report from Taiwan’s Digitimes added that Samsung will opt for an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor instead of the optical sensor used by the likes of Vivo and Huawei.
The latest report from Korea-based TheInvestor corroborates the previous rumors, adding that all three Galaxy S10 variants will feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. However, the type of sensor will be different on the entry-level model compared to the module fitted inside the two higher-end variants.
“The two high-end Galaxy S models will come fitted with an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint scanner while the other one will house an optical fingerprint sensor beneath the screen”, an industry insider was quoted as saying by TheInvestor. Unlike capacitive and optical fingerprint scanners which use light to create a 2D map of ridges on fingers and are relatively easy to bypass, ultrasonic sensors employ sound wave to read fingerprints, a method which is more secure and has a lower failure rate.
The report adds that the ultrasonic sensors utilized by Samsung for the Galaxy S10 will exclusively be supplied by Qualcomm. It is, however, unclear whether the fingerprint sensor used by Samsung will get a dedicated space on the screen or blend with the usable part of the display panel.
As per previous reports, the entry-level Galaxy S10 model, codenamed ‘Beyond 0’, will have to make do with an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, while the higher-end models, codenamed Beyond 1 and Beyond 2, will get the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensing modules. Samsung could also use these sensors on the Galaxy Note 10 and the most powerful units of the Galaxy A-Series. The upcoming Samsung flagships are expected to be announced in February next year and might hit the shelves later in March.
