OnePlus 6T to Have an In-Screen Fingerprint Reader
- Paul Thurrott
- Sep 11, 2018
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While iPhone and Pixel leaks have been all over the news in recent weeks, this one is perhaps even more interesting: OnePlus has confirmed that its next flagship, the OnePlus 6T, will have an in-screen fingerprint reader.
OnePlus calls this feature Screen Unlock.
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“We unlock our phones multiple times a day, and Screen Unlock reduces the number of steps to complete the action,” OnePlus told CNET after rumors about the feature had leaked. “By adding this feature as an addition to other display unlocking options such as Face Unlock, users will have options to unlock the display in a way that is most efficient for them.”
Like many Android handset makers, OnePlus has adapted quickly to the move to bigger and taller displays by moving the Home button off of the front of the phone and to the rear, which it did first with the OnePlus 5T. But an in-screen fingerprint reader has been a design holy grail, of sorts, for many handset makers for years. And it looks like OnePlus will finally hit this milestone with the 6T.
In fact, OnePlus originally wanted to go in this direction with the OnePlus 5T. But “the technology wasn’t mature enough to meet our standards for delivering a fast and smooth user experience,” OnePlus explains.
As CNET notes, an in-screen fingerprint reader isn’t technically “in” the screen, it is really embedded beneath the display. But whatever: To the user, they will be pressing their finger on the display to unlock the phone.
This isn’t the only leak we’ve seen about the OnePus 6T, which is expected as soon as October. The phone will ship with a tiny, tear-shaped notch and will be OnePlus’s first phone to ship via a major wireless carrier, T-Mobile. OnePlus is also expected to ship a new pair of its highly-rated Bullets wireless headphones alongside the new phone.