Galaxy Note 20 to fix a major Samsung flagship annoyance

All recent Samsung flagships have had one clear Achilles heel — slow fingerprint scanners. A new leak suggests that the upcoming Galaxy Note 20 duo will address that with a newer, bigger fingerprint scanner.

Samsung remains the only major smartphone manufacturer to opt for ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanners for its flagships, while the rest of the Android camp ships with optical scanners. In theory, these are supposed to be a lot more secure and easier to use with soiled or wet fingers too. However, Samsung’s implementation has always been slow and inaccurate, ever since the S10 series.

In a recent interview, Ross Young, a notable supply chain commentator talked about how that may change with the upcoming Note 20 series. He is also the one who confirmed the design of the Fold 2 as well as display specifications of the Note 20. According to him, The Galaxy Note 20 series will opt for a new and significantly larger ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which should help in improving the reading speeds and accuracy.

This is likely to be the Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner that was unveiled late last year. It covers an area of 20mm x 30mm, making it one of the biggest in-display scanners commercially available. In fact, it is so big that users will be able to register two fingers at once for added security. It’s about 17x bigger than the last one.

This shift to bigger and better scanners was much-needed. Most of the current in-display fingerprint scanners seen on the market implement Goodix’s optical scanners, which are significantly faster and more accurate. Interestingly, the Galaxy A71 5G launched in China in April was the first Samsung device to sport a Goodix scanner, which has become an industry-standard now. It could be a sign that Samsung is actually considering optical fingerprint scanners for its mid-rangers, as it is often known to experiment with upcoming technologies on its A series of smartphones. 

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