The new word in town is that Samsung is dropping the in-screen fingerprint sensor for the Galaxy S9.
Fans shouldn't be too disappointed by that, as the rumor does continue to say that the Galaxy Note 9 might have it.
In-Screen Fingerprint Sensor May Be A Note Feature
The Galaxy Note series has some exclusive features, particularly the S Pen.
In the case of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, the list goes on to include a dual-camera setup. If the report from South Korean news outlet The Investor turns out to be true, then another Note feature could be an in-screen fingerprint scanner for the next generation of Galaxy phones, aka the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9.
On an interesting note, this is in line with KGI's prediction that the Galaxy S9 will likely not have the feature while the Galaxy Note 9 will.
Technological Difficulties
Before they officially rolled out, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 were rumored to boast a fingerprint sensor under their screens, but as everyone knows, that didn't happen.
With the Galaxy Note 8, it's been reported that Samsung ran into some brightness issues when embedding the reader under the display. That's presumably the same problem that occurred with the Galaxy S8, which was previously attributed to simply running out of time.
It's worth mentioning that Apple also came across similar issues with the technology, failing to incorporate it in the iPhone 8. Meanwhile, Vivo managed to demonstrate a working prototype of the feature in the form of an Xplay6 phone at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017, but it wasn't exactly fit for practical usage because of reading-speed issues.
In short, implementing an in-screen fingerprint sensor for phones is too much of a hurdle for now, which is evidenced by the difficulties that the industry's top manufacturers are facing, but it's coming in the foreseeable future.
What To Expect From The Galaxy S9
Arguably the biggest and only issue with the Galaxy S8 — perhaps aside from the Bixby button, which can now be completely disabled — is the fingerprint sensor's placement. It's positioned beside the camera, and as users have come to find out, they accidentally tap on the camera instead and leave smudges on it instead of the biometric reader.
That said, if Samsung goes through with a similar design for the Galaxy S9, then it could be just like the Galaxy S8: One powerful phone with a fingerprint scanner in an unfortunate location.
