Samsung Allegedly Ditches Plans For Galaxy S9 Under-Glass Fingerprint Scanner

The smartphone world seemed poised to make a move away from fingerprint scanners that have their own space on the front of the smartphone (or on the back) to scanners that could be hidden away under the glass of the screen. Apple was one of the first to look at this back in October of 2016 when a patent showing plans for an under glass fingerprint scanner first surfaced. The catch was that Apple ultimately decided to leapfrog fingerprint recognition in favor of facial recognition.

Word is that Samsung has ditched its plans to put the fingerprint scanner under the screen glass in the upcoming Galaxy S9 smartphone after failing to achieve a production-worthy solution. Samsung will now, reportedly, simply place the fingerprint scanner on the back of the Galaxy S9, just as it has on previous Galaxy S models.

The same report indicates that pilot production for the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus kicked off in October. Mass production for the smartphones is tipped for December. One industry source said, "Samsung won’t get rid of fingerprint sensors in its handsets, as there many services and platforms run based on the technology."

The Apple iPhone X was widely expected to be the first smartphone to adopt that sort of fingerprint scanner, but felt that it had a more secure solution with Face ID. The company is now planning to move away from fingerprint scanners altogether.

The elimination of fingerprint scanners and move to facial scanning is a key selling point for Apple according to reports. Apple sees Face ID tech as being well ahead of what Android has to offer and helping to lure customers to its smartphones rather than the competition.