Vivo Unveils First Phone With In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

While companies like Apple are busy replacing the fingerprint scanner with Face ID, Vivo is trying to take the security protocol to the next level by putting the scanner on the screen itself. The company just unveiled the first smartphone ever to feature this kind of technology and according to feedback, it feels incredibly promising.

Vivo made the unveiling during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, allowing attendees to try out the new feature that many expected would be first used by the company’s bigger rivals, The Verge reports. The concept behind the new technology is actually not that different from how other fingerprint scanners worked.

Users would authenticate their fingerprints by following the same steps and then proceed to unlock the phone or conducting transactions using the service. The biggest difference with the new device is that instead of a dedicated panel to serve as the sensor, users can just place their thumbs on the screen itself.

Apparently, this is made possible using the Synaptics optical sensor technology that Vivo has been trying to develop for years. The technology basically looks past all the pixels in the OLED display to scan the prints on the user’s finger. This is only possible with OLED screens since LCD screens need a backlight, which can interfere with the sensor.

As CNET notes, this is an elegant and frankly obvious step to the smartphone authentication system that has a very good chance of being the next big trend of 2018, handily supplanting Apple’s Face ID fad. Of course, with it being the first of its kind, there are a few kinks to be expected.

For one thing, it apparently doesn’t respond as fast as most modern fingerprint scanners, which is understandable. It’s not so much as the Vivo fingerprint scanner is slow. It’s more like everything else has become too fast.