Biometric sensor developer CrucialTec patents touchscreen fingerprint sensors

CrucialTec, a South Korean biometric sensor developer, has announced on Tuesday that it has completed a patent to install fingerprint sensors under smartphone display panels. The company filed for the patent back in 2012, and has since been developing and conducting trials for the technology. A CrucialTec official tells The Korea Herald:

The technology, which removes the necessity of hardware buttons for fingerprint authentication, will allow more leeway for smartphone manufacturers in product design.

CrucialTec’s announcement follows recent reports that Apple has filed a patent to move its fingerprint scanner from the home button to underneath the touchscreen.

Of course, this differs from current biometric technology we see in smartphones nowadays. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 has a fingerprint sensor in its home button that is activated by a swiping motion. Apple has “TouchID”, which allows users to place their registered finger on the home button, automatically granting access to the user. CrucialTec’s new fingerprint scanning technology could no doubt bring major technological advancements to smartphones. Eliminating the home button may be something that both Samsung and Apple would like to do in the future, and this new fingerprint tech will let that become a reality.

This isn’t all CrucialTec has been developing, though. Last June, the company announced that they’ve been working on a small area-type fingerprint scanning sensor, similar to what we seen on Apple’s TouchID. CrucialTec has supplied biometric technology to global OEMs like HUAWEI and OPPO in the past, and after these new patents have surfaced, we could only imagine the company has a bright future ahead of them.