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Samsung is about to launch the Galaxy Note 9, but we already have a lot of rumors that cover a lot more future Samsung devices that are expected to hit stores just next year. This includes the Galaxy S10 and the first Samsung super foldable smartphone. The Galaxy S10 will mark the tenth anniversary of Samsung's Galaxy S series, and reports already indicate that it will contain a slew of new features and design changes. The list includes a more impressive screen / body ratio, up to three cameras at the back and two at the front, and a feature that no other phone has, a Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor integrated in the screen.
Samsung has been trying to integrate a fingerprint sensor under its smartphone screens for a few years, according to rumors, but has postponed the launch of the feature. Since then, competitors have launched devices with built-in fingerprint sensors on the screen. But recent reports have indicated that Samsung is going for a more sophisticated approach, a sensor that would use ultrasonic waves to read fingerprints. If this sounds familiar to you, it's because it's one of the possible technologies for fingerprint sensors on the screen that Apple has patented, this which led last year to believe that the iPhone X would have a built-in fingerprint sensor
. A newly published patent application entitled An electronic device with a biometric sensor reveals that Samsung has actually investigated ultrasonic fingerprint sensors for displays. The company only filed the documents for the patent on January 22, 2018, according to the application that the USPTO issued a few days ago.
From the drawings only, it is clear that Samsung describes the technology that could be used to place a fingerprint. sensor somewhere inside the different layers of the display.
Like any patent, the documentation is supposed to be as ambiguous as possible so as not to reveal any detail likely to be related to existing plans for future devices. Just look at the pictures that Samsung uses above and below to demo the technology. Nobody would put fingerprint sensors in the display of a phone that also has a physical home button. (Although you could do this on a special edition on Android phone, which has a fingerprint sensor inside and on the back.)
At the same time, the patent also covers all bases, and that is why Samsung also uses the concept of phone while next screen:
Samsung mentions ultrasonic technology throughout the patent, although the patent does not not just about ultrasonic fingerprint sensors. In fact, the patent notes that ultrasonic sensors could be used to transmit data between the mobile device and an accessory such as an S Pen. Here is how Samsung describes the feature of the device in the diagram that follows the quote (underline ours):
The 254 pen sensor (for example, a digital pen sensor), for example, can be put implemented using a method identical or similar to a method of receiving a touch input from the user, or using a separate sheet for recognition. For example, a keypad or a touch pad can be used as 256 keys. The ultrasonic input unit 258 allows the terminal to detect a sound wave using a microphone (for example, a microphone 288) of the terminal through a pen generating an ultrasonic signal, and to identify the data. The 258 ultrasonic input unit is capable of wireless recognition.
Later in the patent, Samsung notes that ultrasonic transmit and receive modules can be placed in the layers of the screen.
The patent even states that the fingerprint sensor might not be placed on the device or on the screen. However, because the patent was filed in January, and because Samsung has manufactured phones with fingerprint sensors for as long as Apple, we can easily assume that Samsung has filed the patent explicitly for cover other methods of adding sensor technology to fingerprints. an ultrasonic sensor that would be placed inside the screen.
That said, there is no guarantee that the Galaxy S10 will have an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the screen because Samsung has patented this technology for future devices. Where there is smoke, there is fire, and several independent reports from reliable sources have made this statement. It would be a feature that no iPhone has, and a feature that will be exclusive to the Galaxy S10 for a while before other Android device manufacturers adopt it.
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