The fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ has been heavily criticised for its poor location and inaccuracy. It was believed that Samsung would ship the Galaxy Note 8 with a fingerprint scanner embedded into the display but due to technological reasons, the company has had to push that for the Galaxy S9 next year. 

Now, as per analyst firm KGI, Samsung will continue to use a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S9, and it is only with the Galaxy Note 9 that the company will ship an under-display fingerprint scanner.

The report states that since Apple has gone ahead and ditched the under-display fingerprint scanner from the iPhone 8, Samsung does not need to rush into adopting the technology on the Galaxy S9. The handset’s upgraded iris scanner and dual-camera setup at the rear alone will be big enough selling points.

In addition, Samsung will be switching to sourcing fingerprint scanners from Egis instead of its current supplier, Synaptics, when it launches the Galaxy Note 9 next year. This move will be an expensive one for the company as the under-display fingerprint scanner reportedly costs 4-5x times more than traditional fingerprint sensors.

While Apple and Samsung tried their best to release phones with under-display fingerprint scanners, both companies failed to do so due to technological and yield issues. So far, only Qualcomm in partnership with Vivo has demoed a phone with an under-display fingerprint scanner. Now, even at best, we are only going to see smartphones with under-display fingerprint scanner launch in Q2-Q3 next year.

As for the Galaxy S9, let’s hope that Samsung repositions the fingerprint scanner to a more ergonomic friendly position.