Sub-Display Fingerprint Sensors to See Jump in Smartphone Adoption, Says IHS

Smartphone brands are expected to increasingly adopt under-display fingerprint sensors, which let phones have full-screen displays with an invisible fingerprint feature, said a Thursday IHS Markit report. Shipments of smartphones using under-display fingerprint sensors are forecast to reach at least 9 million units this year, jumping to more than 100 million units by 2019. Samsung, Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi are some of the brands expected to incorporate the sensors. User preferences for a better viewing experience gave rise to larger, full-screen displays on smartphones, leading to fingerprint sensors placed outside the screen boundary, said the researcher. Rear-side fingerprint sensing was a design compromise to allow larger screen space, and now the under-display fingerprint solution allows the sensor to return to the front side of the smartphone, it said. Almost all fingerprint integrated circuit makers are interested in developing under-display fingerprint solutions due to higher profit margins, said the report. Among panel makers, Samsung Display -- with mature AMOLED panel manufacturing technology -- leads suppliers, followed by BOE, as the under-display fingerprint can be applied only to AMOLED for now, it said.