Galaxy S8 will be the first smartphone with optical fingerprint recognition

Samsung is expected to introduce some major hardware changes with the Galaxy S8, a recent report suggested that the next flagship is going to be truly “full-screen” as the display will be curved on the top and bottom edges as well. We’re now hearing whispers out of China that the Galaxy S8 is going to be the world’s first smartphone to feature optical fingerprint recognition technology. It will eliminate the need for the company to place a fingerprint scanner beneath the home button.

We’ve previously heard rumors that Samsung is going to integrate the Galaxy S8′s fingerprint scanner inside the display itself. An optical fingerprint scanner works when the finger is placed on a glass plate, or in a smartphone’s case, on the glass display. We’ve not seen this implementation in any other smartphones yet so the Galaxy S8 is certainly going to be the first smartphone to feature optical fingerprint recognition, which is both more accurate and faster than ultrasonic fingerprint recognition. It’s said that presently the yield of optical fingerprint recognition components for the Galaxy S8 is not high but since the handset is more than three months away, there’s ample time for yield issues to be addressed before the Galaxy S8 is released early next year.