Fingerprint sensors mounted under phone screens have finally made it to market, and the OnePlus 6T is one of the first phones with the new tech. In our review, we found that the in-display sensor isn’t as fast as previous OnePlus phones’ fingerprint sensors have been, though it’s still quick enough. However, in a recent blog post, OnePlus explains that the 6T’s sensor will actually improve over time.
The blog post is primarily focused on Screen Unlock, OnePlus’s name for its in-display fingerprint sensor, as a whole. What we found most interesting in the post, though, was the claim that the fingerprint sensor will increase in speed over time. Here’s what Yale Liu, a OnePlus software engineer, had to say on the subject:
Every time a user successfully unlocks the phone with their fingerprint, the sensor also records areas of the finger that weren’t registered in the initial fingerprint setup stage. This fingerprint data is then added to the data the phone already holds, making it more complete. So, every time the in-display fingerprint sensor is used, it gathers more data about the user’s fingerprint. This means that over time, the phone will unlock even faster.
The sensor’s algorithms are also able to figure out when the user’s fingerprint is different than usual – if their finger is wet or if they have a cut on it, etc. In these cases, once the phone is successfully unlocked, the algorithms add this new fingerprint data to the existing data to improve unlock speeds under these conditions in the future.
Given that speed was a minor complaint on our part, we’re glad to hear that it’ll actually get better with each unlock. Some forum users claim to have already seen these effects, which is good to see. OnePlus 6T owners, let us know if you’ve noticed this behavior on your devices.
