World’s First Phone with In-Display Sensor Goes On Sale Today

The world’s first smartphone with a fingerprint sensor embedded under its display will go on sale today.

Vivo first announced that it had such a device in production last month, immediately after fingerprint biometrics specialist Synaptics announced that it had viable in-display technology in mass production. Then, at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Vivo unveiled a prototype device featuring Synaptics’ Clear ID sensor in its display, with Vivo promising the phone would be commercially available “in early 2018.”

Now, it looks like that was a bit of an understatement, with the X20 Plus UD launching in the China market.

The early response from the tech press seems positive, if a bit tentative. Speaking about its test drive at CES, 9to5Google says the in-display sensor “seems to work really well, albeit functioning slightly slower than a capacitive fingerprint sensor.” And while The Verge acknowledges the innovation of the Clear ID system, it also asserts that it’s “a pretty straightforward device beyond its fingerprint scanner,” noting that it sports a Snapdragon 635 processor, a 3,905 mAh battery, and a big 6.43″ FHD OLED display, its size facilitated by the embedded fingeprint sensor, which freed up space on the phone’s bezels.

The X20 Plus UD’s price still hasn’t been revealed, but the device will become available for pre-order in China today.

Sources: The Verge, 9to5Google