OPPO Awarded In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Patent

- April 16, 2018

OPPO has been awarded a patent for an in-display fingerprint patent. The State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) awarded the company with the patent, and according to the images that surfaced with the patent filing, it would take up a fairly large space above the bottom bezel of the smartphone. Now the screens show it on a smartphone with a physical home button, but that is likely not how it will be implemented when it launches in the future.

In-display fingerprint sensors are becoming a pretty big thing in 2018, and after vivo showed off two smartphones with a fingerprint sensor embedded in the display, it's not a big surprise that OPPO has a patent for the same feature. This is because OPPO and vivo (as well as OnePlus) are owned by the same company. But in-display sensors also mean that this is going to drive up demand for OLED displays, or is it? This patent is using different technology than the Synaptics sensor that debuted in the vivo smartphone that appeared at CES in January. Of course, we likely won't know how exactly OPPO is implementing this until it is implemented in an actual smartphone.

This could help return OPPO to its roots. The company used to be known for putting out some really interesting designs and stepping out of the box with its smartphones. Though in recent years, its smartphones have become a bit predictable with the usual specs and features, while its sister-brand vivo has become a household name for pushing the envelope. With the vivo X20 Plus UD and the vivo Apex that it showed off at CES and MWC earlier this year, respectively. Though with this patent, OPPO could do some interesting things with its upcoming smartphones. As usual with these patents, it could actually be a little while before we see this implemented in an OPPO smartphone or other device. So don't expect to see it in a flagship from the company later this year, it could be 2019 or later before we see it in an actual device from OPPO. You can view the patent for yourself using the link below.

OPPO's In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Patent