14 DAY TRIAL // As some of you already know, Samsung plans to launch a bezel-less Galaxy S8 next year, a smartphone that will not be coming with a physical Home button on the front side.
That raises the question whether Samsung will be able to find a solution to include the fingerprint sensor under the display or drop it altogether.
The answer comes from an unexpected place, as well-known company Synaptics announced its new take on fingerprint sensors, the FS9100. This is an optical fingerprint scanner for smartphones and tablets that can be easily used through glass, which is exactly what Samsung is looking for.
The glass must be up to 1mm thick in order for the fingerprint sensor to work, but on the bright side the FS9100 is waterproof and scratch proof by default.
According to Synaptics, its optical fingerprint sensors have been especially designed for placement under the cover glass, including 2.5D glass, located in the front, bottom bezel of devices.
Extremely thin and power efficient
“Unlike optical fingerprint sensors used for access control and public biometric identity verification, the advanced FS9100 sensor leverages unique Synaptics optical technology developed for mobile devices and breaks through key technical barriers with an extremely thin form factor and minimal power consumption,” explains Synaptics.
So, aside from the fact that it can be placed under glass, the optical fingerprint sensor is also extremely thin and very power efficient.
It all sounds too good to be true, right? Well, there's one problem, though, as Synaptics announced that its FS9100 optical fingerprint sensors are scheduled to sample in early Q1 2017 with mass production in the next quarter.
If that proves to be correct, Samsung might not be able to contract Synaptics for the addition of the FS9100 optical fingerprint sensor inside its Galaxy S8 flagship. We guess we'll just have to wait and see what aces Samsung has under its sleeves.