Vivo X20 Plus with in-display fingerprint sensor launch details

Vivo may not be one of the most well-known Chinese smartphone brands across the globe, but it is definitely one of the most adventurous. It was one of the first to make the world's thinnest smartphone (back then only 0.7 cm thick) and was one of the first to jump on 6 GB of RAM and deca-core processors. And this week it will be making history again by becoming the first to use the in-display fingerprint sensor technology that should have been in the Galaxy S8 and iPhone X first.

The technology would have been great on last year's flagships but, due to time constraints and development delays, it didn't make it in time. Synaptics, the first to commercialize such a feature, is now trying to catch up and it is getting help from a "Tier 1" OEM. Of course, by now, everyone knows that OEM is Vivo.

The Vivo X20 Plus that will launch this week isn't actually new. Instead of making a new phone, the company will apparently repurpose last year's model. Presuming it will be similar in almost all aspects, this upcoming Vivo X20 Plus with an in-display fingerprint scanner will feature a 6.43-inch 2160x1080 18:9 Super AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 660 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and dual 12 megapixel and 5 megapixel cameras, among other things. TENAA's listing for the newer phone modifies built-in storage to 128 GB and the lowers the battery to 3,800 mAh.

While it's your typical mid-range Android phone, still running 7.1.1. Nougat unfortunately, its highlight will be the fingerprint scanner. New and untested, Synaptics and Vivo naturally boast of the in-display sensor's accuracy and security over that of 3D facial recognition like on the iPhone X and easier to reach compared to rear fingerprint scanners.

How true those claims are we will know soon enough, though perhaps indirectly. Vivo is holding a press event on 24th January in China, at 7:30 pm local time (6:30 am ET) to unveil this revamped Vivo X20 Plus. It will most likely be sold only in China for 3,998 RMB ($625) and perhaps some other Asian markets as well.

VIA: ZDNet