Under-screen fingerprint recognition has become a trend, but its maturity remains to be discussed

In 2019, the share of ultrasonic and optical under-screen fingerprint recognition technologies in the mobile phone fingerprint recognition market will increase from 3% in 2018 to 13%, and the overall under-screen fingerprint recognition market size will grow several times. However, truly mature under-screen fingerprint recognition solutions may not be launched until 2019.

Jiwei.com News (Text/Aki): Under the influence of full-screen phones, the under-screen fingerprint recognition technology used in smartphones is developing in full swing.

TrendForce predicts that the share of ultrasonic and optical under-screen fingerprint recognition technologies in the mobile phone fingerprint recognition market will increase from 3% in 2018 to 13% in 2019, and the overall under-screen fingerprint recognition market size will grow several times.

The latest report points out that after vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO, Samsung will launch models equipped with under-screen fingerprint recognition solutions. As major Android phone brands begin to introduce under-screen fingerprint technology on a large scale, the penetration rate of fingerprint recognition in smartphones will continue to increase, among which the development of ultrasonic and optical technologies is the most groundbreaking.

TrendForce pointed out that the cost of Synaptics' optical under-screen fingerprint recognition was US$12 to US$15 in 2017, but with the investment of manufacturers such as Goodix and Silead, it is estimated that its cost will have the opportunity to drop to less than US$8 in 2019. By then, it is expected that various brands will not only equip flagship models with under-screen fingerprint recognition technology, but even adopt this technology in some mid- and high-end smartphones to adapt to smartphones with full-screen designs. Previously, under-screen fingerprint recognition technology was limited by insufficient yield and insufficient investment from related manufacturers, but with the increasing demand for under-screen fingerprint recognition from mobile phone manufacturers such as vivo, related supply chain manufacturers have begun to pay attention to this technology and have invested a lot of resources to improve yield and seek better cost solutions.

However, a report by analysis firm IHS Markit pointed out that a truly mature under-screen fingerprint recognition solution may not be launched until 2019.

IHS Markit said that the under-screen fingerprint recognition technology in 2018 mainly connects the solution to the image sensor under the AMOLED display panel. Although the display has shortcomings, it can still provide fingerprint recognition in the display area.

In the future, with the development of full screens and the application of OLED and flexible OLED smartphones, fingerprint recognition technology in the display will become increasingly important. Building fingerprint sensors into the display will help promote the 18:9 screen trend and is a big selling point.

In the long run, Chinese panel manufacturer BOE and Taiwan panel manufacturer AUO are developing fingerprint recognition solutions for TFT-LCD. BOE uses capacitive technology and focuses on smartphone applications; AUO uses optical imaging technology and focuses on commercial applications. Both will have huge markets in the future!