According to the rumors, Apple is expected to introduce a fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 8 that could be embedded under its display. Samsung was similarly rumored to do so for the upcoming Galaxy Note 8, but we have heard that the company is still trying to work out the kinks, so much so it looks like the competition has beaten both of them to the punch.
It seems that both Apple and Samsung have been beaten in terms of an embedded fingerprint sensor by none other than Vivo, who thanks to Qualcomm’s recently announced Fingerprint Sensor technology has introduced a modified Xplay6 handset at MWC Shanghai that comes with such a sensor built into it.
The Vivo Xplay6 isn’t a new phone but for demonstration purposes, they released a modified version of the phone which Richard Lai at Engadget managed to try out at the event. It works pretty much as you would expect, where instead of placing your finger on a home button/fingerprint sensor combo, you just place your thumb/finger on part of the display where it will scan your fingerprint to authenticate you.
According to Qualcomm, they claim it will be just as speedy compared to existing solutions, but during Engadget’s hands on, it was found to be noticeably slower. It is possible that maybe the tech is still early and could still stand to be tweaked further. Vivo also told Engadget that in theory the sensor could be applied to the entire screen as opposed to just one portion, but that would increase production cost.