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Synaptics has a new finger scanner with force sensing and swipe recognition

Synaptics has a new series of fingerprint scanners that can sense force, recognize swipe gestures, support soft keys and live under various materials.
By
March 30, 2017

Synaptics may not have managed to get its funky new under-glass fingerprint sensor, the FS9100, out in time for the launch of the Galaxy S8, but the company does have some interesting new scanners we’ll possibly see in devices this year. Synaptics has just announced the Natural ID FS4600 family which support force sensing, swipe gestures, soft keys and a variety of shapes and material coverings.

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The FS4600 series will be available for sampling in Q2 this year with mass production in Q3, meaning we might see them in phones in the latter half of the year. As Synaptics notes in a press release:

The versatile FS4600 family supports square, round, pill shape, and slim rectangular buttons for the front, back or side of devices. The buttons enable OEM choice of coatings including polymers, ceramics or glass. Value-added features include support for two 0D soft buttons, force sensing and swipe navigation. The FS4600 is backed by Synaptics’ industry-superior SentryPoint™ security software.

A fingerprint scanner that can support soft keys is pretty awesome, and there’s plenty of stuff you could do with a force sensing and swipe recognizing scanner. Maybe even make those scanner gestures Moto and HUAWEI tried out suck less. We’re also looking forward to the FS9100 sensor being introduced, which we now assume will happen at least on the Galaxy Note 8, hopefully putting an end to that silly scanner placement on the Galaxy S8.

What kind of functions would you like to see on the FS4600 scanner?