LCD panels with in-display fingerprint scanners are coming

In-display fingerprint scanners are evolving. In the early days, the speed of such scanners used to be as slow as a slug. But over time, the technology is catching up the speed and is comparable with the conventional scanners these days. The feature also looks quite fancy among smartphones. However, the technology was limited to OLED panels so far. Since OLED panels are thinner and allow light to pass through them, they were easily the favorites. However, OLED panels are also expensive at the same time. And with fingerprint scanners embedded to the display, smartphones used to cost a fortune. But that’s going to change. Chinese display manufacturer BOE and AUO Optronics recently announced that they successfully implemented an optical in-display fingerprint scanner on a conventional LCD panel. As reported by DigiTimes, out of 1.456 billion smartphones shipped worldwide in 2018, 85 percent of them had LCD displays. Since LCD panels are cost-effective and easy to manufacture, smartphone companies usually include these types of panels on the midrange and budget phones. So if these sort of LCD panels with in-display fingerprint scanners start coming, we may start seeing this fancy piece of tech even on the mainstream budget phones. And that may not take too long. BOE promises to start the mass production of such kind of displays by the end of 2019. So, if everything runs on schedule and if everything goes well, we might see the tech making its way to affordable phones since the beginning of 2020.