Qualcomm Technologies Inc. is looking to extend its reach in smartphones with the announcement of a new fingerprint scanning technology.

The new Qualcomm ultrasonic fingerprint scanners, revealed last week, eliminate the need for a dedicated standalone fingerprint scanner and instead facilitates scanning under displays, glass and metal. The technology also can detect heartbeat and blood flow. That may sound more like a health tracking feature, but it also can be used for improved mobile authentication, making it harder for a potential thief to lift a fingerprint and spoof the device into unlocking.

“You have this trend toward bezel-less and waterproof smartphones,” Seshu Madhavapeddy, vice president of product management for Qualcomm, said in a statement. “The new premium tier smartphone designs are mandating fingerprint scanners that can operate through much thicker materials and much more complex materials.”

The ultrasonic fingerprint scanning technology was first demonstrated at a mobile industry show in Shanghai last week. But despite not yet appearing in phones from the likes of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Apple Inc., one phone maker is already ahead of the game in the form of Vivo, one of the two mobile companies owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics Corp.

Vivo claimed its “Under Display” fingerprint scanning phone can authenticate a user from a sensor 1.2 mm under an OLED panel. But the phone Vivo is showing is currently a prototype based on its existing Xplay6 model.

According to XDA, the technology suffers from several sore points, too. One one major drawback is that the scanning technology does not scan quite as fast as a dedicated fingerprint scanner. In addition, the site noted, Qualcomm’s new technology only works when implemented on an OLED panel, “leaving LCD displays out of the luck.” That basically excludes iPhones unless the rumors of Apple leaving the 20th century and finally adopting OLED displays are true.

Given that Qualcomm powers the chips behind many Android phones, it’s only a matter of when, not if, the fingerprint scanning technology will be coming to a phone near you.

Photo: Frettie/Wikimedia Commons