This cool face-unlock sensor sits under the display and can be used for payments

Under-display cameras are on the cutting edge of smartphone development today, but we haven’t seen face unlock sensors dive under the screen on commercial phones just yet.

Things are about to change, though, as tech company Trinamix is demonstrating an under-display face unlock sensor at MWC 2023. The solution — which was previously shown off at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit in November — meets FIDO Level-C security requirements. In other words, this can indeed be used as biometrics for mobile payments and app unlock, in addition to simply unlocking your phone.

The technology combines 2D facial recognition with a “liveliness check” that’s able to discern human skin from artificial materials such as silicon. This is made possible thanks to a combo of a near-infrared camera, dot projector, and flood illuminator. The company also showed us the solution’s ability to withstand spoofing attacks, demonstrating that a 3D mask modeled after the presenter was unable to unlock the device.

Trinamix’ team lead for system integration Christian Hess told Android Authority that the company was hoping to bring this under-display face unlock solution to commercial smartphones by 2024.

Either way, this tech means companies will no longer have to choose between an uninterrupted full-screen display or a cutout if they want to implement secure face unlock. And yes, Apple’s Dynamic Island may be short-lived or outdated pretty soon.