In late 2018, Qualcomm introduced the 3D Sonic Sensor along with the Snapdragon 855 SoC. It's the first under-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and it was integrated into Samsung's Galaxy S10 series, among other smartphones that incorporate that technology.
In the future, that system will be making its way into more devices as Qualcomm announced today a partnership with BOE Technology, a semiconductor display company based in Beijing, China. The tie-up will see the integration of displays featuring Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensors into mobile devices, XR (mixed reality) platforms, and IoT systems.
Regarding the new collaboration, Roawen Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of QCT at Qualcomm Technologies said:
“Through this collaboration, we expect that OEMs will have more opportunities to design cutting-edge products that feature OLED displays made with the Qualcomm 3D Sonic fingerprint sensor technology. We look forward to further strengthening our innovative collaborations with BOE in key areas like 5G, XR and IoT.”
Already, the companies are now working on adding the 3D Sonic sensor to BOE's flexible OLED displays. The goal is to streamline this system and help smartphone OEMs integrate the fingerprint sensor into their own products. Qualcomm says commercial devices built with this integrated system are due for market release in the second half of 2020.