Qualcomm officially unveils the new biometric sensor hidden beneath the display
Directly from the MWC 2017 in Shanghai, Qualcomm, today introduced its new Snapdragon 450 but also a new solution for unlocking the smartphone with the finger. A biometric sensor hidden under the glass of the device. Here’s how it works.
The desire of smartphone manufacturers is to introduce in the coming months a biometric sensor for unlocking the smartphone that is no longer visible but concealed below the display so that it can take advantage of the fashion of the fashion that sees fully borderless screens, which no longer give real space on the front for the positioning of a physical sensor.
Here, during the MWC 2017 in Shanghai, Qualcomm also presented its Fingerprint Sensor technology solution next to the new Snapdragon 450 chip. A true ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that will allow you to safely unlock the smartphone without having special designs for its positioning.
In this case at the technical level, the new sensors presented by Qualcomm operate either below the display, then at the bottom of the display, under the metal or glass shell, but also below the glass to protect the display itself. A triad of solutions that will allow smartphone makers to realize all sorts of high-end and mid-range devices.
As mentioned in the opening, the new Qualcomm system envisages the use of ultrasonic technology that will allow you to recognize the touch through the screen. In this case, there are some prerogatives for everything to work with the solution below the display: the same must be of the OLED type and not exceed a thickness of 1200 μm.
A limitation that could predict the use of this sensor in high-end smartphones where clearly the manufacturer will place an OLED display that costs considerably more than the classic LCD display. However, the new Qualcomm sensor will also allow heartbeat detection as well as blood pressure to improve fingerprint detection and unlocking in total safety.
For other versions, Glass and Metal, Qualcomm declares that smartphone makers can integrate these sensors below aluminum or glass surfaces with a maximum thickness of 650 μm for Glass and 800 μm for Metal.
The ability to integrate various sensors with Qualcomm processors clearly explored, and the company outlined how the same for glass and metal are compatible with the Snapdragon 650 and 630 series, unlike the sensor hidden under the display that will be exploited from future incoming chips but also with non-Qualcomm processors.
Regarding the availability, Qualcomm said that both Glass and Metal sensors will be available to smartphone manufacturers early this month and can be used by the first half of 2018. As for the ” top of range ” hidden below the display the company counts to make it available to manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2017.
