It seems like under-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanners will be available on a lot more Android phones moving forward. Why? Well, Goodix unveiled its ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, and that’s a bit deal.
Goodix released its first ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, and it’s likely coming to a lot of Android phones
This is Goodix’s first ultrasonic offering. The company’s optical in-display fingerprint scanners are widely used. If you’ve used a bunch of optical in-display fingerprint scanners in phones, chances are that most of them have been from Goodix, if not all of them.
This move will certainly push the technology forward, and make ultrasonic fingerprint adoption higher than before. At the moment, optical in-display fingerprint scanners are the norm. They are, however, inferior to ultrasonic fingerprint scanners.
How? Well, optical fingerprint scanners basically throw a ton of light on your fingerprint, take a picture of it, and then transfer that to a digital form to authenticate it’s you. There are some drawbacks to this, however.
Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners are more secure than optical ones
This makes optical fingerprint scanners less secure, as there’s always a concern in regards to spoofing. On top of that, they can’t really work properly when your hands are dirty or wet. Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners are much better with that.
Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners also don’t need a ton of light to hit your fingerprint before it’s scanned. On top of that, they’re more secure than optical fingerprint scanners.
Goodix’s new ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is already used in one smartphone, the Vivo X100 Ultra. Chances are we’ll get to see it in a lot more smartphones moving forward.
In its blog post, Goodix said that the launch of its fingerprint scanner and the inclusion in the Vivo X100 Ultra marks a “significant milestone in the widespread adoption of ultrasonic fingerprint technology”. Goodix’s announcement actually occurred around the time of Google I/O, which is why it flew under the radar.
Goodix also made it clear that this ultrasonic fingerprint scanner features a low-voltage driving system and a simple hardware design. That should make it easy for smartphone OEMs to include it in their devices.
