Qualcomm
Qualcomm is launching a new fingerprint on-screen sensor for smartphones, the “Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2.” Qualcomm says its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor “will be available in new sizes that are 50% faster and 77% larger compared to Generation 1”, but it still looks very small compared to a fingerprint. Just as the Gen 1 version appeared on the Galaxy S10 and S20, there is a good chance that you will see this sensor on the next Galaxy S21.
On-screen fingerprint readers can be fast, accurate and reliable, as long as you really hit the center of them, which can be challenging. Being under a smooth, flat glass panel means there is no tactile guidance on where to stick your finger. The first generation fingerprint readers were very small, requiring exact precision to hit the sensor. A fingerprint reader on the screen big enough to never lose, even without looking, would be a big improvement, and although we have seen companies talking about a product like this, no one has launched it on the market.
In December 2019, Qualcomm hinted that it had met its goal of making a huge fingerprint reader by announcing “3D Sonic Max”. It looked like a revolution, with a claimed surface area of 30 mm x 20 mm, which is so large that it was possible to scan two fingerprints side by side. I don’t think you’ll ever want to do that, but the point is that you would never miss out on the digitization area because it’s too big. The 3D Sonic Max has not yet had a commercial launch, but Qualcomm has told us that it will be released on a product before the end of 2021.
Ron Amadeo
With OEMs making great strides in the size of the fingerprint reader, perhaps the incremental shift will get more customers for Qualcomm. I measured my fingertip at about 14 mm × 14 mm, but Qualcomm’s first generation sensor, available on the Galaxy S10 and S20, measures only a slice of your fingerprint, with a 9 mm × scanning area 4 mm. At just 8 mm × 8 mm, this second generation version is still not what I would call a “full fingerprint” sensor, but now there is a larger vertical target. Qualcomm’s art, above, seems to greatly exaggerate the scale of the sensor in relation to a finger, showing what I would measure closer to a 20 mm x 20 mm sensor.
It is also important to note that Qualcomm does not have a lot of business for its fingerprint readers at the moment. While all smartphone companies in the world use Qualcomm modems and Android OEMs sell many Qualcomm SoCs, there is virtually only one company that provides Qualcomm fingerprint readers: Samsung. The vast majority of Android phones use optical fingerprint readers on the screen, usually from Goodix or Synaptics, instead of the Qualcomm solution.
But speaking of Samsung, it looks like this fingerprint reader will be inside the Galaxy S21, which will be released this week. Last month, Samsung leaker connected Ice Universe said the Galaxy S21 fingerprint sensor would be ultrasonic and would measure 8 mm x 8 mm, which aligns with the specifications that Qualcomm announced today. After shipping Qualcomm’s first generation fingerprint sensor in 2019 and 2020, an update of the fingerprint sensor is well overdue for the Galaxy line.