Andrew Orr
Samsung's new OLED display panels have integrated fingerprint and health sensors, potentially paving the way for the return of Touch ID in future iPhone models.
The Sensor OLED Display can measure a person's heart rate, blood pressure, and stress level with a touch of two fingers on the screen. In contrast to the conventional approach of incorporating fingerprint sensors as separate modules beneath the panel, Samsung Display has integrated the light-sensing organic photodiode (OPD) directly within the panel structure.
The reflection of OLED light undergoes distinct variations based on the expansion and contraction of blood vessels within the finger. As the light returns to the panel, the integrated OPD detects these changes, converting them into valuable health data.
"To accurately measure a person's blood pressure, it is necessary to measure the blood pressure of both arms," the company. "The Sensor OLED display can simultaneously sense the fingers of both hands, providing more accurate health information than existing wearable devices."
Samsung Display says it's the first to release panel technology that can simultaneously sense fingerprints and biometric information.
Rumors have long claimed that Apple has been working on technology that could offer display-embedded fingerprint sensing and may release an iPhone with a Touch ID sensor under the screen. Samsung might have just delivered a solution to such a sensor.
But other reports say that Apple is also working to embed Face ID sensors under the iPhone display as well, though that may not arrive until 2025 or later. So it's also possible that Touch ID may not ever return to the iPhone.
Another new display that the company is showing off is called Rollable Flex. Unlike traditional foldable or slidable designs, which provide a maximum of three times scalability, the Rollable Flex overcomes these restrictions by allowing the display to be rolled and unrolled along an axis resembling the shape of the letter "O," much like a scroll.
Samsung is unveiling the new OLED technologies during the SID Display Week at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. The event runs from May 23 to May 25.
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9 Comments
Give it up. TouchID is dead.
AND Apple is moving toward microLED and away from Samsung as a supplier in general.
Face ID is better tech, and in time will be incorporated behind the screen, which will make it even better that what it is today, Samsung and Qualcomm are direct competitors and Apple doesn’t need to give them a tip off before hand , when Samsung was making the CPUs for the iPhone, they were able to fast follow Apple more closely, since Apple dumped them overboard, they are no longer able to do so, and their performance has suffered because of it.
Qualcomm will no longer be tipped off either, about Apple’s ultimate direction with modems, in light of Apple, moving over to Broadcom.
As much as I will never buy a Samsung-branded device or appliance, I can't argue with the tremendous leaps in technology that they bring to the world. This is an amazing step forward of truly "smart" displays.
Humans have achieved incredible progress in a very short time of existence (in terms of the Universe). I just wish we'd use that intelligence to truly move away from fossil fuels. (runs and hides).