Goodix Stakes Claim to Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition Sensor Integrations

Goodix is once again staking a claim to being involved in a pioneering in-display fingerprint sensor project, announcing that its optical sensor technology is being used in Xiaomi’s forthcoming Mi8 Explorer Edition smartphone.

Officially unveiled this week, the Mi 8 Explorer Edition will join a small handful of smartphones launched this year that are capable of scanning fingerprints through the display screen. Like the first smartphone to offer this capability, the Vivo X20 Plus UD, Xiaomi’s new smartphone features Synaptics’ Clear ID in-display fingerprint sensor technology – at least in some number of units. But some other number of units, it seems, are based on Goodix’s ‘In-Display Fingerprint Sensor’ solution.

Goodix also said it was a supplier of in-display fingerprint technology after the announcement of Vivo’s X21 smartphone, the sequel to the X20 Plus UD. Now, in announcing its involvement in the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, the China-based company did not specify whether its technology is being used together with Synaptics’ Clear ID solution, or in different units.

The same goes for Xiaomi’s newly-announced Mi 8 and Mi 8 SE smartphones, which feature more conventional fingerprint scanning via a designated button. Sweden-based Fingerprint Cards announced this week that its new FPC1291 sensor is being used in those devices, and Goodix says its fingerprint sensors are being used in the smartphones as well.

What’s clear enough is the excitement over this kind of in-display fingerprint sensor technology, illustrated in part by the keenness of various industry players to be affiliated with it.