What’s an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and why is it good?
The Galaxy S10’s in-screen fingerprint scanner may look just like the one on the OnePlus 6T, but don’t be fooled. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are the first phones to use Qualcomm’s ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint technology, which uses sound waves to read your print.
Related to ultrasound in a doctor’s office, this “3D Sonic Sensor” technology works by bouncing sound waves off your skin. It’ll capture your details through water, lotion and grease, at night or in bright daylight. Qualcomm also claims it’s faster and much more secure than the optical fingerprint sensor you’ve seen in other phones before this. That’s because the ultrasonic reader takes a 3D capture of all the ridges and valleys that make up your skin, compared to a 2D image — basically a photo — that an optical reader captures using light, not sound waves.
The debate between ultrasonic and optical fingerprint scanners comes at a time when biometric security is on the ascent. In-screen fingerprint readers are a hot trend in phone design because they don’t take up any room on the phone face, and require less groping around than a sensor embedded on the phone’s power button or back casing. That design dovetails nicely with the move toward an all-screen face with barely visible bezels.
“Security and biometrics have been integrating into mobile platforms at a rapid pace,” Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm senior vice president of mobile technology, said in December at Qulalcomm’s yearly tech summit in Hawaii. “This is the future of fingerprint technology.”
The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor built into the screen layers replaces iris scanning as the biometric sensor of choice on the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus in particular. (The Galaxy S10E has a traditional capacitive fingerprint reader on the power button.) Iris scanning has existed since the Galaxy S7, so Samsung’s move away from it is a surprise about-face. Rumor has it that Google might fold 3D face scanning into the next version of Android, referred to as Android Q.
For an animated explanation at how ultrasonic fingerprint scanners work, be sure to also check out the video in this story. Meanwhile, here’s what you need to know about the ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint reader on the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus.
