Vivo

There are two things about that iPhone X that will never stop to be controversial: its notch and its removal of any fingerprint scanner in favor of Face ID. The former was by necessity but the latter, no matter how much Apple denies it, was due to the unavailability of in-display fingerprint scanners at that time. What if Apple had waited a year longer? What would the iPhone X have been like? Now you longer have to wonder because the Vivo X21 UD has just answered it for you.

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The thing about a good idea is that, all too often, someone else has had it before you. That certainly seems to be the case with Vivo's attention-grabbing Apex concept smartphone from Mobile World Congress this past week. Vivo got plenty of attention for its Android handset's trick, pop-out front facing camera. Problem is, it looks like Essential got there first.

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MWC 2018 practically ended on its first day or two, with most of the announcements dumped then and there. There were some late surprises but we pretty much got a feel of the event right from the start. It was almost low-key, somber, and serious, with a few spikes here and there with interesting, if not sensational news. That doesn’t mean, however, that MWC this year was pretty dead. In fact, the biggest winners, at least by the numbers, seem to be the underdogs. Here are just some of the highlights of MWC 2018, especially for the smartphone market.

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A long time coming, Synaptics finally launched late last year the first ever commercial in-display fingerprint sensor. Jumping immediately on the opportunity to be different, Vivo equipped its new X20 Play UD with the never before seen feature. JerryRigEverything demonstrated how users didn’t have to worry about scratches on the display but had to be extra careful not to break the screen. But since that was broken anyway, the YouTube channel’s Zack Nelson got to work in tearing down the phone to reveal the sensor’s secrets.

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In-display fingerprint scanners have been hailed as the optimal solution to bezel-less screens. At least over face or iris recognition or even placing the sensor on the phone’s back. But by putting it under the display’s glass, the fingerprint scanner naturally becomes subject to that glass’ own vulnerabilities. JerryRigEverything took a Vivo X20 Plus UD, the first and so far only phone to have that feature, and subjected it to his usual durability torture test. This time, however, he put a very special emphasis on that hidden sensor.

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In 2016, the Xiaomi Mi Mix started something that would become a major design trend to date. 18:9 screens and similar have pushed out almost all unnecessary bezels. Well, almost. A few remain, sometimes in rather odd places like the iPhone X’s world-famous notch. A completely bezel-less phone is still a pipe dream, hindered by many technical and practical considerations. But if Vivo’s new APEX concept phone ever come to market, all of those would disappear, though some in rather comical ways.

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If you thought Vivo was done raising eyebrows with the Vivo X20 Plus UD, the world’s first smartphone, then you don’t know Vivo at all. While the OEM isn’t exactly at the very top (though market analysts put it at the top 5), it definitely makes up for it in ambition and audacity. It might show that character once more soon when it unveils the Xplay7. Because in addition to the already expected nearly bezel-less 18:9 screen, the phone is now believed to be the world’s first to bear 10 GB of RAM inside.

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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.

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There were no sensational new smartphones announced at CES this year, but there is one that is at least promising to do that very soon. No, not the Galaxy S9 or any foldable phone. Chinese OEM Vivo, which some might be surprised to know is one of the world’s top 5 phone makers, is showing of what is still a prototype of a smartphone that is ready for mass production. But while the smartphone itself might be a bit nondescript at this point, it has one feature no other smartphone has yet: a fingerprint scanner embedded in the screen.

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Human Interface Device (HID) expert Synaptics might be grasping at straws to salvage what it can from its much-delayed in-display fingerprint sensor. It recently announced that the sensor, the Clear ID FS9500, has gone into mass production with one of the five Tier 1 smartphone makers in the world. Not leaving much time for a guessing game, Synaptics has finally revealed who that OEM is, and it is none other than Vivo who, just a few months ago, flaunted Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor instead.

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Although fingerprint scanners hiding underneath glass displays is quite the hot topic in smartphones these days, the dream isn't actually new. It has been around a few years back and some even had nearly working solutions. One of those is Qualcomm and it is now reminding everyone of that. At MWC Shanghai, the mobile chip maker will be showing off its latest ultrasonic fingerprint scanner running underneath the display of an actual commercial smartphone. And, in a way, it will be showing Samsung what it might be missing out on.

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One of the advantages that Chinese smartphone makers have is that they are able to take bigger risks and jump on fads faster than more mainstream giants. And when it comes to jumping on fads, there is probably no OEM quicker or bolder than Vivo. The company was one of the first to reach the thinnest mark and was one of the first to come out with 6 GB of RAM. Now it might also be the first to have a fingerprint sensor embedded in the screen, beating Samsung and Apple to the punch.

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