Qualcomm
Qualcomm launches a new on-screen fingerprint sensor for smartphones, the “Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2.” Qualcomm says that its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor ‘will be available in new sizes that are 50% faster and 77% larger compared to Gen 1’, but it looks quite small compared to a fingerprint. Just as the Gen 1 version appears in the Galaxy S10 and S20, chances are you will see this sensor in the upcoming Galaxy S21.
On-screen fingerprint readers can be fast, accurate and reliable, provided you reach their center, which can be a challenge. If you are under a slippery, slippery window, there is no tangible guide for where to stick your finger. Early generation fingerprint readers were quite small, and it required accurate accuracy to hit the sensor. An on-screen fingerprint reader large enough to never miss, even without looking, would be a huge improvement. Although we have seen companies talk about a type of product, no one has sent it to the market.
In December 2019, Qualcomm made it sound as if it had achieved the goal of making a great fingerprint reader by announcing the ‘3D Sonic Max’. It sounded like a revolution, with an area of 30 mm × 20 mm, so large that it was possible to scan two fingerprints side by side. I do not think you would ever want to do that, but the point is just that you will never miss the shame area because it is so big. The 3D Sonic Max has not yet seen a commercial release, but Qualcomm tells us that it will ship a product before the end of 2021.
Ron Amadeo
As OEMs drag their feet by leaps and bounds in the size of the fingerprint reader, Qualcomm can gain more customers through incremental change. I measure my fingertip about 14mm × 14mm, but Qualcomm’s first-generation sensor, available on the Galaxy S10 and S20, only measures a shot of your fingerprint with a 9mm × 4mm scan. At only 8mm × 8mm, this second version is still not what I would call a “full fingerprint” sensor, but there is now a larger vertical target. The art of Qualcomm above seems to exaggerate the scale of the sensor relative to a finger, showing what I would measure closer to a 20mm × 20mm sensor.
It is also important to point out that Qualcomm does not currently have much business for its fingerprint readers. While every smartphone company on earth uses Qualcomm modems, and Android OEMs deliver a ton of Qualcomm SoCs, there is only one company that ships Qualcomm fingerprint readers: Samsung. The vast majority of Android phones use on-screen optical fingerprint readers, usually from Goodix or Synaptics, instead of Qualcomm’s solution.
But speaking of Samsung, it sounds like this fingerprint reader will be in the Galaxy S21, which launches this week. Last month, plugged in Samsung leak Ice Universe said the Galaxy S21 fingerprint sensor will be ultrasonic and measure 8mm × 8mm, which is in line with the specifications Qualcomm announced today. After Qualcomm’s first generation fingerprint sensor was shipped in 2019 and 2020, an upgrade of the fingerprint sensor is very good for the Galaxy line.