Google is responsible for maintaining Android and making new Pixel smartphones, so it is sometimes difficult to say when a new Android feature also means a new Pixel feature. Just because Android adds support for new hardware, it doesn’t always mean that a future Pixel phone will ship with that hardware, although that doesn’t mean it will never happen. The return of wireless charging on Pixel phones and the existence of a wireless charging dock made by Google, for example, was leaked for the first time through the Android code. Now, we find evidence on Android 12 that suggests that a future Pixel device could finally add a fingerprint reader under the screen.
Today, Google published the second Developer Preview for Android 12. Within the code, the developer kdrag0n identified several new classes in the SystemUIGoogle application. One of these classes is called “UdfpsControllerGoogle”, where “Udfps” refers to “fingerprint scanner on display”.
Now, the SystemUIGoogle app from the first Android 12 Developer Preview also added several classes related to under-displayed fingerprint readers, but we didn’t think about it at the time because there was no evidence to suggest that the code was not just for generic Udfps support in AOSP, the open source version of Android. Many custom ROM developers will say that the lack of support for the AOSP’s fingerprint scanner under display has caused a lot of headaches, so it was time for Google to add the appropriate support. However, these new Udfps classes are part of the com.google.android.systemui path instead of com.android.systemui, suggesting that these classes are being developed for Pixel phones, rather than AOSP. This is not definitive evidence that a future Pixel phone will have a fingerprint reader under display, but based on our experience of learning about Pixel’s new features in this way, we feel confident enough to now raise that possibility.
Although Google is late to adopt a fingerprint reader under display on a Pixel smartphone, the timing makes sense. Optical digital fingerprint scanners on display have been around for years, but the quality of these modules has greatly increased since they were first introduced. They are still not as secure as physical capacitive fingerprint scanners or hardware-based facial authentication, but they allow for a more elegant design when compared to the former and cost much less when compared to the latter. The biggest question we have is: if Google is putting a fingerprint scanner under display on a future Pixel phone, will it be an optical or ultrasonic sensor?
Finally, Google is also set to introduce a new “swipe for notifications” gesture on Android 12, which is a replacement for the old “swipe for notifications” gesture on Pixel phones that have a fingerprint reader. Since the fingerprint scanners below the display cannot be used for fingerprint swipe gestures, the new “swipe for notifications” gesture will provide a good addition to the new fingerprint hardware.
Thanks to PNF Software for providing us with a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android apps.
Image shown: the optical fingerprint reader under the display of the OnePlus 7T Pro.