Samsung Decides To Place Galaxy S8’s Fingerprint Sensor On Its Back ’At The Last Minute’

Samsung’s original plan for the Galaxy S8 was to place its fingerprint sensor right onto the screen itself. However, we now know that the handset’s fingerprint sensor will be located at the back, and here’s why?

An anonymous source has indicated that Samsung and its touch sensor partner Synaptics were simply running out of time, as first reported by The Investor. California-based Synaptics apparently failed to fully develop the technology on time forcing Samsung to put the fingerprint scanner on the back.

“Samsung poured resources into Synaptics’ fledgling technology last year but the results were frustrating,” the source said. “With the production imminent, the company had to decide to relocate the fingerprint scanning home button to the back of the device at the last minute.”

Thanks to several leaks over the past few days, we now know for certain that the Samsung Galaxy S8’s fingerprint sensor is located at the back just beside the camera. The location of the sensor has understandably irked some users who find it simply inconvenient.

Users could easily mistake the camera as the fingerprint scanner and that could smudge or maybe even scratch the camera’s lens. For users who have smaller hands, it would also be a bit more difficult and or uncomfortable to reach the sensor, which is already close to the top of the device.

It’s possible that Samsung has already thought of these problems and that’s why its also providing an alternative solution. IBT reported last week that the Galaxy S8 might come with facial recognition technology. This could be useful for people who simply don’t want to use the awkwardly positioned fingerprint scanner.

With Samsung unable to place the fingerprint sensor onto the display of the Galaxy S8, this may allow Apple to grab the spotlight for the iPhone 8. Rumors are circulating that Apple is already testing an on-screen fingerprint scanner for this year’s iPhone, but it does look like it’s still having difficulty with the technology, as pointed out by Android Authority.

An official from a display tech firm said that it’s still extremely difficult to develop transparent sensors for an all-screen smartphone. If Apple succeeds, it could make the iPhone 8 the most advanced smartphone of the 2017.