Renowned KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reversed an earlier prediction that Samsung will bring in-display fingerprint sensor technology to its next Note device. His latest note to investors says that such technology has “many technical issues” including reduced operability with screen protectors and power consumption. As such, it’s “likely” that Samsung will abandon efforts to bring in-display scanning to this year’s anticipated Galaxy Note 9 smartphone.
It’s a surprising assessment in the wake of Vivo’s success in bringing such technology to market this year with its launch of the world’s first smartphone with an in-display sensor; and in a bit of showboating, the company also took the opportunity of the recent Mobile World Congress to demo a concept phone that can scan multiple fingerprints anywhere in the bottom third of its screen. Vivo is a much smaller company than Samsung with less R&D resources at its disposal; and Samsung’s next Note device isn’t expected to launch until the second half of this year, offering the company a lot of time to get this technology right. What’s more, the location of the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor on Samsung’s Galaxy S8, and now the S9, was one of the chief criticisms of that device. Putting the sensor into the display would offer a neat solution to that issue.
In any case, as AppleInsider reports, despite Samsung’s failure to implement in-display fingerprint scanning, Kuo believes the technology is important in enabling full-size displays for mobile devices, a trend that is unlikely to diminish any time soon; and he expects mass market adoption of the technology, though not until 2019. That gives Samsung a lot more time to figure this technology out, so long as it’s okay with Vivo maintaining the lead here.
Sources: AppleInsider, 9to5Google
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