Earlier this year we reported that the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S10 devices would not support screen protectors. Today a hands-on video of the Galaxy S10+ has surfaced showing a very strange screen protector.
As you can see int he video below the Galaxy S10+ hands-on does not reveal much at all, showing the front of the device including the dual front facing camera in the oval display cutout and a quick look at their new OneUI. What stands out the most in the video is the fingerprint sensor region of the screen protector — there is a massive cutout in the screen protector where the sensor is located.
The new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor has not been used in a mainstream phone before and is designed to be faster, more secure and more accurate than an optical sensor. It has been shown to not work through a glass screen protector, the most popular screen protector used these days. The cutout in the screen protector is most likely there for that reason — the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor cannot work consistently through the glass screen protector.
At the time that we first reported this possibility we were hoping that Samsung could solve this problem either with software or a medium between the protector and the display to transmit the ultrasonic waves through the display and the protector. Unfortunately it seems that Samsung have not solved this problem, at least by the time the phone in this video was made. It is possible though that this is an early prototype and later versions did solve this problem.
There is no indication whether this issue occurs with the plastic screen protectors as well but hopefully it works with something at least, for those who like to protect their display from random scratches.
All will be revealed next week but that screen protector with the massive hole in it looks terrible and will undoubtedly interfere with the everyday use of the device. Hopefully Samsung do have that solved for those users who want to use a glass screen protector with their new Galaxy S10 phone.
