Qualcomm has just announced a new fingerprint sensor technology called the Snapdragon Sense ID. It is the mobile industry’s first 3D fingerprint authentication technology that uses ultrasonic waves to scan fingerprints.
By using ultrasonic waves, the Snapdragon Sense ID can be better than most fingerprint sensors found on today’s smartphones like Apple’s Touch ID and even the brand new one found on the Samsung Galaxy S6. According to Qualcomm, it can even work through smartphone cover that is made of glass, aluminium, stainless steel, sapphire and plastics. Sense ID can also scan a finger even if it’s a little dirty or wet, which definitely sounds great, especially if you have a water-resistant device.
Additionally, by using ultrasonic technology, which has already been used in professional biometric security applications, Sense ID can be a lot more accurate too. It can “penetrate the outer layers of skin, detecting 3D details and unique fingerprint characteristics including fingerprint ridges and sweat pores”. This will result in a highly detailed surface map of the fingerprint, which would be a lot more difficult to imitate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtKKZyYbZtw
Qualcomm says that its Snapdragon Sense ID 3D fingerprint technology will be built into its new Snapdragon 810 and 425 chips, and will be available as a standalone part, and will be compatible with all Snapdragon 400 series, 600 series and 800 series processors.
(Source: The Verge, PRNewsWire)
