A South Korean biometrics company has developed a fingerprint sensor that can be embedded under the display panel of a smartphone, according to a Korea Herald article by Kim Young-won. The company, CrucialTec, says that it has just received approval for the relevant patent, filed back in 2012.This news comes only days after reports surfaced that Apple had filed a patent related to technology that would allow it to move its TouchID fingerprint scanner from its mobile devices’ home buttons to underneath their displays. That would obviously allow for a significant change in the design of Apple’s mobile devices – especially its iPhones, the screens of which were enlarged by the company for the latest iteration, the iPhone 6 Plus, in order to compete with the larger “phablets” being offered by competitors.
It isn’t yet clear if these patents will be in conflict with each other going forward. But given that CrucialTec has supplied fingerprint scanners to Huawei, one of the many low-end mobile makers eating away at the giants’ market share, it’s not improbable that the spectre of legal action might rise somewhere on the horizon.
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