It looks like Google’s next Pixel 6 smartphone will receive a long-awaited update. A few years after Samsung did this with the Galaxy S10, it looks like Google is finally ready to follow suit.
It’s not a sure thing, but the evidence comes from the latest version of the Android 12 developer, and the operating system previews have already revealed unreleased Pixel device secrets, so it’s certainly a possibility.
As first reported by XDA Developers, the developer kdrag0n found several new classes in the SystemUIGoogle application, one of which is called “UdfpsControllerGoogle”. This may sound silly, but UDFPS is a fairly common acronym for “fingerprint sensor on display”.
While this may be general support for the feature on Android more generally, its inclusion in the com.google.android.systemui path instead of com.android.systemui suggests that this is specifically for Pixel phones, rather than something generic.
Like Apple, Google initially seemed to see facial recognition as a preferable alternative to unlock, and the Pixel 4 arrived without any kind of fingerprint reader. But Google’s facial unlocking looked kind of baked, and a rear-mounted fingerprint reader was back for the cheaper Pixel 5 instead.
This time, it looks like Google could offer the best of both worlds. A month ago, Mishaal Rahman, from XDA Developers, discovered that the first Android 12 Developer Preview included references to unlock devices “safely with your face and fingerprint”. A scanner built into the screen would certainly guarantee a cleaner design and, in a world where we will probably still use face masks in the near future, returning to facial recognition alone would be a mistake.
Otherwise, rumors about the Pixel 6 are very scarce at the moment, although the next Snapdragon 775 SoC is still expected to give a significant chance, with a reported change to the 5 nm design and generally improved performance. It also wouldn’t be a Pixel smartphone without image processing, ensuring that the camera’s technology acts well above its weight.
Of course, this is not the next phone that Google has up its sleeve. Although the Pixel 6 is likely to arrive in October or November, we hear that the next budget entry – the Google Pixel 5a – may be here in June. In theory, it could come with digitizing fingerprints under the screen, but it is not likely. The Pixel 5a leaks don’t just show a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, the fact that we’re learning about Pixel’s implementation on the Android 12 Developer Preview pretty much rules that out, given the operating system’s recent history of September updates.