Qualcomm’s new fingerprint reader on a bigger, faster screen

Qualcomm is launching a new in-screen fingerprint sensor for smartphones, the “Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2”. Qualcomm says the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor “will be available in new sizes up to 50% and 77% larger than the first generation,” but it still looks very small compared to the fingerprint. Just as the Gen 1 version appeared on the Galaxy S10 and S20, there’s a good chance you’ll see this sensor on the upcoming Galaxy S21.

Screen fingerprint readers can be fast, accurate, and reliable, as long as they hit their center, which can be tricky. Being under smooth, flat glass, there is no noticeable direction on where to stick your finger. The first generation fingerprint readers were very small and required precise typing accuracy from the sensor. The on-screen fingerprint reader is large enough that you won’t miss it, even without looking there will be a huge improvement, and although we’ve seen companies talk about such a product, no one has it. marketed.

In December 2019, Qualcomm gave the impression that it was aiming to create a massive fingerprint reader with the announcement of “3D Sonic Max”. “It looks like a revolution, with a rechargeable area of ​​30mm x 20mm, and it’s so big you can scan two fingerprints side by side. I don’t think you’ll want to do this at all, but it never is. Don’t miss the survey area because it’s so big, Sonic Max 3D hasn’t seen a commercial launch yet, but Qualcomm tells us it will ship a product before the end of 2021.

As manufacturers drag their feet with jumps as big as a fingerprint reader, the cumulative change may bring more customers to Qualcomm. I measure my fingertips at around 14mm x 14mm, but the 1st gen Qualcomm sensor, available on the Galaxy S10 and S20, only measures a piece of your fingerprint, with a 9mm scan area x 4 mm. Measuring just 8mm x 8mm, this second gen version is still not what I would call a “full fingerprint” sensor, but there is now a larger vertical target. The Qualcomm art above dramatically exaggerates the scale of the sensor relative to the finger and shows what I’m going to measure near the 20mm x 20mm sensor.

It’s also important to note that Qualcomm doesn’t have a lot of work for fingerprint readers at the moment. While all smartphone companies on Earth use Qualcomm modems, and Android OEMs ship many Qualcomm SoC products, there is one or more companies that offer Qualcomm fingerprint readers: Samsung. The vast majority of Android devices use in-display fingerprint readers, usually from Goodix or Synaptics, rather than the Qualcomm solution.

But speaking of Samsung, it looks like that fingerprint reader will be inside the Galaxy S21, which launched this week. Samsung leaked online last month The frozen universe The Galaxy S21’s fingerprint sensor will be ultrasonic and will measure 8mm x 8mm, which is in line with the specifications announced by Qualcomm today. After the release of Qualcomm’s first-generation fingerprint sensor in 2019 and 2020, the fingerprint sensor upgrade has lagged behind the Galaxy lineup.