In-display fingerprint sensor breakthrough coming to budget phones

Typically, in-display fingerprint sensors are associated with OLED displays. That’s set to change, as display maker BOE announced today the technology to use in-display fingerprint sensors with LCD panels

According to DigiTimes today, the company plans to begin mass production of LCD panels embedded with in-display fingerprint sensors at the end of 2019. There’s no mention of which companies will line up and buy the displays.

As previously mentioned, in-display fingerprint sensors have only been found in OLED displays up until now. That’s likely due to OLED displays being thinner than LCD displays, with the thinner profile allowing light and ultrasonic transmitters to better get to your finger.

It’ll be interesting to see how LCD displays with in-display fingerprint sensors perform. That said, BOE’s technology could allow in-display fingerprint sensors to more quickly proliferate across the smartphone industry. According to DigiTimes, smartphones with LCD displays account for 85 percent of the number of smartphones shipped in 2018.

More significantly, the technology would allow budget phones to feature in-display fingerprint sensors. Such sensors are typically found on flagship smartphones north of $500. In as soon as a year from now, we could see the Moto G8 and budget offerings from Xiaomi, Huawei, Honor, and others with in-display fingerprint sensors.

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