Samsung Galaxy S10 Arriving With Qualcomm’s Ultrasonic In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is rumored to come in three variants next year and two of the models will have in-display fingerprint sensors. However, it looks like the Galaxy S10 won’t be the first Samsung handset to arrive with the technology.

TF Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo has predicted that there will be three models of the Galaxy S10. Kuo said that two of them will feature in-display fingerprint sensors, while the other one will have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The analyst also said that Samsung will be using Qualcomm’s ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, which was announced over a year ago, according to 9To5Google.

Ultrasonic fingerprint sensors use ultrasonic sound to produce a 3D image of the user’s fingerprint. For comparison, Synaptics and Goodix solutions, which are already found in Xiaomi, Huawei and Vivo smartphones, use optical fingerprint sensors. Optical sensors use light to illuminate the user’s fingerprint. Interestingly, ultrasonic fingerprint sensors are said to offer a better user experience.

Kuo said that Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanner will be used by Samsung for its “high-end” Galaxy A series and the Galaxy Note 10. If this is accurate, then it also means that the Galaxy S10 won’t actually be the first Samsung smartphone to arrive with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Earlier this year, the Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus arrived before the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, as pointed out by Android Authroty.

If Samsung follows the same release schedule, then the 2019 Galaxy A (possibly called the Galaxy A9 and A9 Plus) device will arrive before the Galaxy S10 models. The The Galaxy A series features mid-range handsets and Kuo might be referring to the “Plus” model when he said that the in-display fingerprint scanner is going to be available for the “high-end” series.

Kuo noted that the inclusion of the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors in the two Galaxy S10 models could ramp up Samsung’s smartphone shipments up to 60 million units next year. The analyst forecasts that the Galaxy S10 will make up the bulk of those shipments, selling between 34 million to 36 million.

The “high-end” 2019 Galaxy A might also sell 6-8 million units, while the Galaxy Note 10 could sell around 14-16 million units. The most popular rumor that’s going around right now is that Samsung might unveil the Galaxy S10 models in February at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019.