fingerprint scanner

In flagship devices today, a fingerprint reader is almost a given. We use it for not just unlocking our device, but also a slew of security features which allow us not to deal with the hassle of passwords, and now a series of mobile payment services — notably Chase banking and Google‘s own Android Pay — are making their way to our phones.

In all handsets, these scanners usually hide underneath a physical home button, or are otherwise implemented on the back of the phones via a dedicated sensor. However,  LG‘s subsidiary Innotek has developed an under-glass fingerprint sensor module, which could come into production as early as this year…

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Many details surrounding the Nexus 6 were leaked in the months leading up to the smartphone’s launch in late October, although one oft-rumored tech specification that proved to be absent was a fingerprint scanner akin to Touch ID on the iPhone. The initial reports calling for a fingerprint scanner weren’t necessarily wrong, however, based on new evidence uncovered in Android’s open source code.

Ars Technica reports that Google was prepared to include fingerprint scanner support for both the Nexus 6 and Android Lollipop, although a commit message filed through Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in late August called for removal of that support on “Shamu,” the internal codename for what ultimately became the Nexus 6. The commit simply read “shamu: remove fingerprint support.”

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