Vivo Demos Phone with In-Display Fingerprint Scanner at CES 2018

“The company emphasized the solution’s capability of accommodating full-size displays that take up almost the entire front face of a mobile device, and the convenience of maintaining a front-facing fingerprint scanning system with respect to the user experience.”

As anticipated, Vivo has taken the opportunity of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show to demo the world’s first commercial smartphone to feature an in-display fingerprint sensor.

The company hasn’t yet offered a name for the smartphone in question, but said in a statement that it is a “ready-to-produce” device, and that its availability will be announced “in early 2018.” Vivo SVP Alex Feng said of the device, “We are very excited to make it available to consumers soon.”

The company emphasized the solution’s capability of accommodating full-size displays that take up almost the entire front face of a mobile device, and the convenience of maintaining a front-facing fingerprint scanning system with respect to the user experience.

As for the scanning system’s functionality, it’s designed to prompt the user for a fingerprint scan via a visual cue on the screen whenever authentication is required. The prompt can appear even when the screen is off, and will disappear when it is no longer needed.

The fingerprint sensor used in the system, provided by Synaptics, is based on optical imaging, unlike the ultrasonic in-display systems that Qualcomm and Fingerprint Cards have announced.