In a survey conducted by Precise Biometrics among its customers, which entails the leading vendors of optical and ultrasound fingerprint sensors, respondents highlight that under display fingerprint sensing will lead to larger sensor sizes than today. This opens up for better convenience through improved biometric performance by lowering both false rejections, but also increased security by reducing false acceptance of fingerprints.
“The new generation of smartphones with edge-to-edge screens are visually appealing and increase user convenience. As our customer survey now confirms, the removal of the start button and instead placing fingerprint sensors under the display will also open up space for the use of larger sensor sizes. A larger sensor captures more fingerprint data, which in its turn gives better biometric performance and further increases the user experience”, says Patrik Lindeberg, Precise Biometrics’ Chief Operating Officer.
Furthermore, the costs of optical and ultrasound sensors are not directly correlated to their size, which is the case with silicon-based capacitive sensors. The current trend in the sensor market, which is dominated by capacitive sensors, is to reduce sensor sizes to save costs. With optical or ultrasound sensors, the OEMs are not equally forced to make them as small as possible to decrease costs.
In the survey, a majority of Precise Biometrics’ customers believe that mobile devices with in-display sensors covering most or the whole screen instead of a smaller hot zone, will be adopted over the next two to three years. Jamie Fox, Principle Analyst, LEDs and Lighting at IHS Markit, also predicts this development in the recently published “Fingerprint Sensors Overview Report” from IHS Markit.
“The fingerprint sensor market is likely moving towards a true ‘in-display’ solution, where the sensor is not just under the display, but also integrated into the display itself. These sensors will likely be able to recognize fingerprints in a large area of the display or even the entire display, rather than solely on a hot zone or fingerprint-sensor button”, per Jamie Fox, Principle Analyst, LEDs and Lighting at IHS Markit.
“Our customer data and IHS Markit’s report confirms our assessment that in- and under display sensing is a disruptive market force. New sensor technologies will, in the coming years, further increase the adoption and usability of fingerprints in mobile devices”, says Patrik Lindeberg.