At Mobile World Congress Qualcomm announced their new Sense ID 3D fingerprint scanning technology, which can scan fingerprints through metal and glass, and which reads the deep ridges of your fingerprints, making it more difficult to fool.
In the above video they give a brief look at the technology, which they note could be used with FIDO (Fast Identity Online), a new authentication standard which Microsoft has also signed on to, and which promises to get rid of passwords forever.
“Mobile devices increasingly store our most valuable and sensitive information, while passwords alone do not provide the protection consumers deserve,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, QTI. “Snapdragon Sense ID 3D Fingerprint Technology’s unique use of ultrasonic technology revolutionizes biometrics from 2D to 3D, allowing for greater accuracy, privacy and stronger authentication. We are very proud to bring the mobile industry’s first ultrasonic-based biometric authentication technology to mobile device manufacturers and their customers, who will benefit from the improved and differentiated user experience.”
The technology is being introduced in conjunction with the Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 425 processors. Snapdragon Sense ID 3D fingerprint technology is designed to be compatible with all Snapdragon 400 series, 600 series and 800 series processors and is already in various sampling stages with most major OEMs and is expected to be available in commercial devices later this year.