Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Rumored To Include A Finger Print Reader Under The Display

Considering the fact that Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9+ came out only a couple of months ago, it’s a little surprising that we’re already hearing about what the S10 might introduce. Or… is it? For the most part, the S9 family doesn’t look or feel that much different from the S8 family, and for that reason, many haven’t found it to be too exciting. It could be, though, that Samsung has been waiting for the S10 to unveil new features that will make the device feel a little more revolutionary.

Previous rumor has said that the Note 9 could possibly include an under-the-screen finger print reader, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen at this point. It could however make its introduction with the Galaxy S10, allowing Samsung to forego the dedicated reader on the back.

Called FOD, or “fingerprint on display”, the technology has proven very difficult to perfect, and we’re still not there yet. In order for an FOD to work, the sensor under the display can’t interfere with the display itself, and that of course includes its color, brightness, and so forth. It needs to be completely invisible, but accurate. The fact that FOD readers are coming is no surprise, as even Apple has been working on such technologies internally (based on filed patents), but it’s still up-in-the-air on which vendor will be first out the door with a commercial solution.

If it’s Samsung, it’ll be kind of interesting since the finger print location before the Galaxy S9 was, in my opinion, awful. It was dramatically improved on the S9, but on the S10, if this rumor proves true, it’ll be the best solution I can think of – unless face recognition would work with zero chance of a security risk (sadly we’re not there yet).

The upside is that this cool tech is coming, but the downside is that we’re still going to have to wait a while for it. The S9 family only released two months ago, so the S10 is likely to release the same time next year, or at least well after a mere two months. That’s largely fine, though, as the technology would still need to be perfected. I just hope we don’t get an FOD reader at the same time Samsung decides to cull the headphone jack, if it plans to at all (it seems inevitable, but that doesn’t mean I like it).