On February 1, 2018, Vivo released the world's first commercial under-screen fingerprint unlocked mobile phone - X20 Plus screen fingerprint version, and then other mobile phone manufacturers have made efforts, and a large number of under-screen fingerprint recognition mobile phones have been launched in 2018. Although the screen fingerprint recognition technology was not mature enough at that time, it led the development direction of mobile phone unlocking solutions.
After four years of update iteration, all kinds of under-screen fingerprint technology emerge in an endless stream, and by 2022, in addition to Apple, almost all flagship mobile phones of mainstream brands are equipped with screen fingerprint + face unlocking solutions.
It is reasonable to say that this commercial technology for more than 4 years is difficult to set off a topic, usually when the new machine is released, the manufacturer briefly introduces the fingerprint under the screen and upgrades, how fast the recognition speed can be, and can be successfully identified in various complex environments. Unexpectedly, recently the fingerprint recognition under the screen has made many netizens quarrel, and the reason for their quarrel is that some flagship mobile phones priced at 6,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan in the past two years are still using short-throw fingerprint recognition, rather than ultrasonic fingerprints.
Netizens who support ultrasonic fingerprints believe that short-throw fingerprints are outdated technologies, low-end mobile phones can be considered to be costly, and flagship machines should have been completely abandoned long ago. Netizens who support short-throw fingerprints believe that ultrasonic fingerprints rely too much on overseas supply chain enterprises, which may lead to the theft of user privacy information, and short-throw fingerprints have achieved domestic production, even if the information is stolen, it is left in China.
Indeed, domestic users are paying more and more attention to privacy and security, and it is normal to have concerns in this regard, but blindly think that a fingerprint recognition will leak their own information, which seems unfair. In-depth exploration of the working principle of fingerprint recognition and the security of hardware privacy, in order to fairly view this controversy between netizens.
Short-focus fingerprints, in fact, are like this!
When it comes to short-throw fingerprints, everyone may be a little unfamiliar, it is not clear what this is, in fact, it has a well-known name - optical fingerprint recognition.
In simple terms, this unlocking technology requires a transparent screen and a short-throw lens, and when we press the screen, the OLED screen emits light, illuminates our fingers, and then takes pictures through the short-throw lens and performs comparative analysis.
The speed and accuracy of short-throw fingerprint recognition unlocking are very high, and the price is relatively cheap, but it has a fatal drawback, that is, a 5-cent coin-sized short-throw lens module is placed behind the screen. The inside of the mobile phone is scarce, any bit of space is very important, all mobile phones that use short-focus fingerprint recognition have a feature, that is, the recognition area is close to the tail of the mobile phone.
Ultrasonic fingerprint recognition is different, the technology emits ultrasonic waves through the bottom fingerprint module, scans the user's fingers, and uses the reflection of the fingerprint to the ultrasonic wave to establish a 3D image, the recognition area is larger than the short-focus fingerprint, and the position can be more free. The area of ultrasonic fingerprint recognition, inside the mobile phone is the part used to place the battery, you can try it, hold the phone normally, the thumb can just touch.
In order to avoid the mobile phone being too thick, reasonably plan the internal space of the mobile phone, and the short-focus fingerprint recognition module needs to be moved down. This situation leads to the use of short-throw fingerprint recognition of the phone unlock somewhat uncomfortable, the thumb needs to be pressed near the tail, giving people a feeling that the phone is unstable.
In addition, the initial ultrasonic fingerprint recognition success rate is low, the unlocking time is also long, but with the continuous advancement of technology, Samsung S22 series, Meizu 18 series of ultrasonic fingerprint recognition has been quite mature, and in the case of fingers with water, it can also be unlocked in seconds, and daily use is not much slower than short-focus fingerprints.
Since ultrasonic fingerprint recognition has so many advantages, why should the flagship machine choose a short-throw fingerprint solution? In fact, the reason is also very simple, mainly the cost problem. Short-throw fingerprint unlocking has been developed for so many years, the technology has been quite mature, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Samsung and other enterprises in the low-end models, are using The Top Technology short-throw fingerprint recognition solution.
The cost of ultrasonic fingerprint recognition is much higher, relying on Qualcomm's solutions, some manufacturers for cost and profit considerations, abandon the advanced ultrasonic fingerprint solution, choose a more mature short focus fingerprint is forgivable. However, for consumers, they definitely hope to use ultrasonic fingerprint recognition with a better experience.
Personal information, so easily stolen?
Proponents of short-throw fingerprinting schemes believe that when fingerprints are entered on mobile phones, our biometric information is stolen. Xiao Lei first gave a conclusion and then analyzed the reasons, and concluded that entering fingerprints would not disclose our personal information.
We consider the problem, the relevant departments have long taken into account, not to mention the ultrasonic fingerprint recognition solution relies on overseas supply chain companies such as Qualcomm, if the security is not high enough, then it will definitely be rejected, the screen fingerprint unlocking options are too many, Qualcomm is not the only choice. If they can easily obtain the user's fingerprint or other biometric information, we don't need as many "invisible guardians".
From a technical point of view, fingerprint recognition solution providers want to collect the user's biometric information, it seems that there are only two solutions, one is to add a radio wave transmission device to the fingerprint recognition module, and then receive it through other devices; the other is to directly use the mobile phone network to send to their own server.
The first scheme is simply a fantasy, directly send fingerprint information to the satellite, fingerprint recognition device used to use the power is simply not enough, if the power increases, it will definitely be discovered by the system. As for installing a receiver near the user, China is so big, how much to install is enough, installing so many inexplicable things is a big project, it is impossible not to show the stuffing.
The second technology is even more unreliable, at the beginning of fingerprint recognition, face recognition, iris authentication online, there are many netizens worried that their personal information will be uploaded. At that time, Apple reacted quickly, promising that fingerprints and face information would all be saved locally, absolutely would not be uploaded, and this information would be stored in a separate chip in the mobile phone.
In order to provide a more secure environment for hardware, SOCs based on arm architecture all apply a technology called "trustzone". The technology can protect peripherals such as memory, encryption blocks, keyboards, screens, etc., which means that it is basically impossible to break the independent chips dedicated to storing fingerprint information from the outside.
In fact, not only mobile phones, in recent years, more and more laptops support fingerprint recognition, the same as mobile phones, the fingerprint information entered by the computer is also stored in a separate chip. If the information is too sensitive and there is a risk of being transmitted abroad, the relevant departments have already intervened. Apple's iCloud is operated by Guizhou on the cloud, and all information remains in China and cannot be transferred abroad, which is the best example.
Major mobile phone manufacturers have made a commitment that they will never upload the user's fingerprint information, coupled with the supervision and management of relevant departments, worrying about their fingerprint information being uploaded is undoubtedly unfounded. With this effort, it is better to check whether there is a problem with the App in the mobile phone, illegal software is the main reason for the leakage of user privacy now.
Support domestic production, rationality is the most critical!
Patriotism is a simple emotion, the vast majority of national citizens have patriotic feelings, especially several neighbors in China, South Koreans almost all Samsung mobile phones plus Hyundai, Kia cars. Many domestic enterprises have engaged in patriotic marketing, as long as the product quality is passed and the price is appropriate, Xiao Lei is not opposed.
But this time because of a fingerprint recognition, some netizens belittled the ultrasonic fingerprint recognition that originated from abroad, which Xiao Lei could not understand. Ultrasonic fingerprint recognition has matured, the experience is better than the short focus unlock, so it will become a new choice for flagship machines, consumers should think for their own sake, requiring manufacturers to use better solutions.
Economic globalization is the trend of the times, even if there are some countercurrents and dangerous shoals, the direction of economic globalization has never changed, and will not change. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers purchase Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and Samsung, Sony's CMOS, and other accessories, are the embodiment of economic globalization, now to purchase, the future may continue to purchase, unless there is a substitute.
Domestic supply chain enterprises do well, but also will be recognized by overseas enterprises, such as netizens talk about Huiding technology, short-throw fingerprint solutions are really doing well, Samsung Galaxy A series of low-end mobile phones are being used, and then such as BOE's screen panel, has been facing global exports, and even threatened the status of Samsung and LG, there are 80,000 pieces of Sharp 80A9BW TV (now reduced to about 50,000 yuan), using Huawei HiSilicon 811 chip.
In today's economic globalization, no country can achieve all-round, domestic mobile phone manufacturers need overseas supply chain enterprises, overseas manufacturers also need domestic supply chain enterprises. We can't reject ultrasonic technology solutions because they come from overseas companies such as Qualcomm, whether a technology is good or not, whether it should be used or not, should be left to consumers to choose, and the relevant departments are responsible for supervision and management.
Domestic supply chain enterprises want to become bigger and stronger, relying on patriotic marketing is certainly not OK. As a major supplier of optical fingerprint recognition solutions in China and even in the world, Huiting Technology does not need this kind of marketing. As long as Huiding Technology develops ultrasonic fingerprint recognition technology that is mature enough to rival Qualcomm's solution, then manufacturers and consumers will naturally vote with money.