Clear ID – Optical in display fingerprint sensors
Clear ID by Synaptics
Synaptics, the company responsible for handling the touch input on millions of laptop trackpads and smartphone screens, has announced that it’s entered mass production with its first optical in-display fingerprint sensors. Titled Clear ID, these are expected to work exactly like the home button fingerprint sensors. The mind-blowing feature is you will be able to authenticate your phone just by pressing on the display which actually is laid over an optical fingerprint sensor.
Vivo is the first smartphone company to use this in-display fingerprint authentication sensor. Other smartphone companies are looking forward to incorporating such designs in their future models.
Working
The sensor which is built by Synaptics uses the light emitted by the OLED panel to read your finger and scan your print. Most phones use capacitive sensors for their fingerprint readers, which require your finger to have a pulse to be read. The optical sensor can’t physically sense a pulse, but Synaptics have stated that it has built in a robust anti-spoofing system to ensure its reader can’t be fooled by others trying to imitate your fingerprint.
Final Verdict
This optical in-display fingerprint sensor works only under an OLED screen which is kind of a limitation to some phones that use LCD displays. Also this optical in-display fingerprint sensor is slow compared to the usual capacitive fingerprint sensors on current smartphones which is a matter of concern to some people. This technology has a great advantage that it is invisible to a lay man until and unless you mention the location of the sensor. It definitely has a major scope of improvement in the era to come.
Techno-Maniacs 