San Francisco, Jan 12 (IANS): Qualcomm on Tuesday launched its second-generation in-display fingerprint sensor called 3D Sonic Gen 2 that offers a larger surface area for the sensor as well as faster processing.

This second-generation sensor will be available in new sizes which are 50 per cent faster and 77 per cent larger compared to Gen 1, the company said in a statement.

Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 1 was 4x9 mm. Gen 2 will debut with a sensor that is 8x8 mm, which is 77 per cent larger than Gen 1. The bigger sensor provides a larger region for you to place your finger and allows Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor to capture 1.7x more biometric data.

Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 is expected to debut in mobile devices in early 2021. Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensors deliver a better user experience by using technological advances and acoustics (ultrasonic waves) to scan 3D features such as ridges, valleys, as well as pores of a user's finger for a deeply accurate image. This allows the Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor to scan fingerprints through solid surfaces like glass and metal even while wet.

It is also ultra-thin, measuring a scant .2 mm. This enables OEMs to build mobile devices with cutting-edge form factors. This includes full edge-to-edge flexible OLED displays. Qualcomm Technologies' first generation of Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensors were featured in many flagship smartphones including the Samsung Galaxy S10, Note10, S20, and Note20 series.