Synaptics Finds New Angle for Clear ID in Notebook Integrations

“Clear ID is notable for having delivered the first instance of an in-display fingerprint scanning feature for a commercial smartphone last year, in Vivo’s X20 Plus UD smartphone.”

Synaptics has found a novel application of its Clear ID fingerprint sensor technology, thanks to a partnership with notebook OEM/ODM Clevo.

Just ahead of the launch of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the latter has announced new notebook devices featuring sophisticated biometric touchpads. The TouchPads use technology that Synaptics has dubbed ‘SecurePad Gamma’: Essentially, they’re glass-based, and feature built-in fingerprint authentication via the Clear ID optical sensor solution.

Clear ID is notable for having delivered the first instance of an in-display fingerprint scanning feature for a commercial smartphone last year, in Vivo’s X20 Plus UD smartphone. It went on to be named “Component of the Year” by the Society for Information Display, and helped to inspire a larger trend as more smartphone makers sought to integrate such technology into their own devices.

The integrations into Clevo’s newest notebooks therefore offer a different spin on Clear ID’s applications, eschewing the display but nevertheless demonstrating how the technology can be under glass to offer new kinds of user interfaces.

In a statement announcing the integrations, Synaptics credited its collaboration with Shanghai-based OXi Technology, which which it partnered in late 2016. The new Clevo designs, called the P960, P970, PB50 and PB70, will be showcased during this week’s CES 2019 event in Las Vegas, which is slated to run from January 8th to 11th.