Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 announced

Qualcomm has announced its new 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 for flagship smartphones that use in-display fingerprint scanners.

Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Sensors use acoustics (ultrasonic waves) to scan the fingerprint’s 3D features such as ridges, valleys, as well as pores for a deeply accurate image. This allows the sensor to scan fingerprints through solid surfaces like glass and metal even while wet. The ultra-thin 0.2mm profile also enables OEMs to put it in devices with edge-to-edge flexible OLED displays like the Samsung Galaxy S10, Note10, S20, and Note20 series.

The Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 is 50% faster and 77% larger compared to Gen 1. The larger sensor allows for a larger region for scanning and enables it to capture 1.7x more biometric data. The faster sensor also means faster unlocking.

The Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 is expected to debut in mobile devices in early 2021.