Leading global LCD manufacturer Japan Display Inc. has just announced it has developed a transparent Glass-based fingerprint sensor. The manufacturer is mainly known for making liquid crystal displays or LCDs. However, it has used its LCD expertise to make inroads in the sensor-making industry. JDI’s announcement comes at a time when Vivo has already demonstrated the first working under-display fingerprint sensor in the Vivo X20 Plus UD. The difference between Synpatics and JDI’s implementation is that the display itself houses the sensor for JDI.
The company described the mechanism of the sensor, “JDI’s glass-based capacitive fingerprint sensor applies the basic touch functionality technology that is integrated in its in-cell Pixel EyesTM displays which have been used in smartphone and digital still camera applications. With Pixel EyesTM, the touch functionality is integrated into the glass substrate by detecting the changes in capacitance that occur when a finger touches the LCD surface. The glass substrate identifies the area touched by the finger through the detection of the changes in capacitance.”
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In essence, JDI’s sensors will work on LCDs whereas Synaptics sensors work on OLED panels only. JDI is already thought to be in the race for contracts of OLED displays for Apple’s future iPhones with Sharp. With Apple switching to OLED displays on the iPhone X, demand for OLED displays is bound to rise the next year. Especially when Samsung, the current OLED supplier to Apple, seems to be falling out of favour. For now, LG is the second contender along with JDI and Sharp. With such competition, it is logical for the manufacturer to tap other markets. And JDI seems to be doing exactly that.
JDI plans to ship the commercial product in the current fiscal year (ending March 2019).