Fingerprint-scanning Gorilla Glass could eliminate iPhone’s Home button

By

Touch ID
Say goodbye to the Home button as you know it.
Photo: Apple

We are one step closer to the end of Touch ID as we know it.

Following on from Apple’s recent patent filing concerning “finger biometric sensing pixels” for future iPhones, tech R&D company Sonovation has announced that it’s discovered a way of putting ultrasonic biometric sensors under Gorilla Glass — by bonding the sensors directly onto the display panel. Better yet, it works accurately even when fingers are wet, dirty, or oily.

According to Sonovation’s CTO Rainer Schmitt, this technology is “well suited for through-the-glass fingerprinting and specifically architected to deliver advanced security and ease-of-integration into mobile and IoT devices.”

There’s no word on how secure it is compared to the touch sensors used in present generation smartphones, although you’d expect Sonovation to at least achieve comparable levels to existing sensors if it is going to have any shot at becoming the de-facto replacement for current touch sensors

One other limitation is that the technology is only compatible with Corning Gorilla Glass at the moment, which means that Apple may have to put plans for sapphire iPhone screens on the back burner for the time being if it plans to take advantage.

 

The big benefit of eliminating the iPhone’s classic Home button is that it would allow Apple to enlarge the display of its handsets without having to increase the physical footprint of the device in the process.

Would you like to see Apple get rid of the Touch ID button in favor of a fingerprint-sensing iPhone display? Leave your comments below.

Source: TNW

 

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