Qualcomm: 3D ultrasonic fingerprint is the best, mainly in cooperation with Samsung
At the moment, smart phones have two mainstream biometrics, one is face recognition, and the other is fingerprint recognition. The latter are basically optical fingerprint recognition, but do you still remember the 3D ultrasonic fingerprint recognition that Qualcomm promoted?
Except for the Xiaomi Mi 5S in the early years, only Samsung adopts ultrasonic fingerprint recognition technology. However, Qualcomm has not abandoned this technology. At the recent Snapdragon Technology Summit, the latest generation of 3D Sonic Max was released in a low-key manner.
According to Qualcomm, the recognition area of the new generation of 3D ultrasonic fingerprint recognition technology has increased from 4×9 to 20×30 in the previous generation, a 17-fold increase, and it supports fingerprint authentication of two fingers at the same time, and monitors heart rate through two fingers. Improved security, improved unlocking speed and ease of use, and the fingerprint data is directly processed by the hardware without additional algorithm assistance.
Regarding the current status and future of 3D ultrasonic fingerprint technology, during the summit we interviewed Keith Kressin, Senior Vice President of Product Management of Qualcomm, and Kedar Kondap, Vice President of Product Management of Qualcomm. In their view, this is actually the highest fingerprint recognition technology currently available.
Kedar Kressin pointed out that, first and foremost, 3D ultrasonic fingerprints are more secure, can generate 3D images of fingerprints, and only 3D images can unlock the phone, and can identify different materials, such as distinguishing human skin from fake plastic fingerprints. , It can also penetrate thicker glass to realize under-screen recognition; secondly, it can also add more next-generation features at any time, such as the latest generation released this time.
For some OEM manufacturers, they may think that optical fingerprint technology is already very good, but from the perspective of Qualcomm, they always believe that only the best technology can win the market, so they have been committed to investing in the best technology. As far as fingerprint recognition is concerned, ultrasound is the best technology.
Kressin said that Qualcomm’s main partner in 3D ultrasonic technology is Samsung. This is because the manufacturing process of 3D sonic technology is very complex and must work closely with display panel manufacturers. Samsung is very interested in 3D sonic fingerprint technology, not only because They agree that ultrasonic fingerprint recognition is better than optical recognition on the technical level, also because they have professional accumulation in display technology.
However, he also admitted that the challenge for 3D ultrasonic fingerprints is how to promote faster in the market. Qualcomm hopes to strengthen cooperation with the ecosystem, such as BOE, in order to better promote the development and popularization of this technology.
Regarding the issue of vulnerabilities in fingerprint recognition of Samsung mobile phones, Gordon Thomas explained that Samsung’s fingerprint recognition problem only occurs when users use uncertified screen films or screen protectors, which will generate some kind of 3D images, resulting in images. The sensor cannot accurately identify the user’s fingerprint. At this time, if other users perform fingerprint recognition through this unauthenticated screen film, the system will recognize the 3D image caused by the screen film again, causing false recognition.
Qualcomm has worked closely with Samsung to provide patches. After the update, fingerprint recognition will be normal. Chinese services such as Alipay and WeChat Pay have also resumed support, indicating that their security is guaranteed.