We expect the Samsung Galaxy S23 phones to bring with them a lot of upgrades, from cameras to processors, but apparently there is one key spec that won’t improve: the fingerprint sensor.
Reliable leak Ice Universe (opens in a new tab) seems to have scored a layer of protective glass for the Galaxy S23 Ultra model and reveals where the fingerprint sensor will be placed – a place of the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S22 phones.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S22, but as Check the notebook (opens in a new tab) indicates that we had hoped the sensor in the Galaxy S23 would be bigger and better. Now that seems unlikely.
Same old same old
In particular, the Galaxy S22 comes with the capable Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2, while the Galaxy S23 was thought to feature the Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max – a sensor that is more accurate, more secure, and can scan two fingers simultaneously.
Perhaps Samsung decided it wanted to stick with the same fingerprint sensor to keep costs down, or maybe the original rumor of a fingerprint sensor update was misguided from the start – but this is one update that now looks unlikely.
You could argue that fingerprint readers are not the most important element of a smartphone, but given how often we unlock our phones each day, they can have a significant impact on the user experience.
Analysis: fingerprint sensor updates
Head over to the official website Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max (opens in a new tab) and you will see that there has been improvement in many areas. It is the largest in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to date, using sound waves to scan fingerprints at high speed and with incredibly high resolution.
It’s much harder to spoof a fingerprint with this technology compared to standard optical fingerprint sensors, says Qualcomm. It scans fingerprints faster when wet, and thanks to the acoustic scanning used, it is more reliable when the fingers are not perfectly clean.
The larger surface area allows two fingers to be scanned simultaneously, and the manufacturer claims a sensor error rate of 1 in 250,000. However, based on a protective glass leak we’ve seen online, we’ll have to wait until at least 2024 to see it in the company’s flagship Galaxy S phone Samsung.
That’s not all bad news though, as the Galaxy S23 will bring with it some improvements over the phone that came out before. We heard earlier this week that the phone will come with a custom version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset for even greater performance.