OnePlus 6T Fingerprint Sensor Unlocks Faster Over Time

In-screen fingerprint scanners or fingerprint-on-display (FoDs) have started to become more common in phones, at least from Chinese brands. While they are partly impressive in how they enable such biometrics beneath the glass, they're still regarded to be slower and less accurate than conventional fingerprint scanners. OnePlus has finally jumped on that train but, never willing to settle, it claims to have come up with the fastest and smartest FoD in the market. So smart that it can actually study your fingerprint over time.

Like regular fingerprint scanners, in-screen ones require you to enroll your fingerprint or fingerprints at least once and that's that. They create a secure record of your fingerprint, so to speak, to use as a reference when you try to unlock your phone. Most phone companies keep most of that tech under wraps for security purposes but OnePlus is happy to share at least one feature.

A bit like the recent generation of face recognition systems, the OnePlus 6T uses "sophisticated algorithms" to improve over time. For each successful unlock, the sensor records more and more areas of the fingerprint that weren't included in the initial setup. In short, OnePlus promises it improves over time and therefore will unlock faster the more you use it.

That might also be how other in-display fingerprint scanners work anyway but OnePlus is the only one really talking about it. Whether that has any security implications, we'll let the experts weigh in soon.

Curiously, OnePlus also explains why it chose to use green light for its FoD indicator color where most use white. It isn't just aesthetic (though it definitely looks catching). OnePlus claims that their tests revealed that green light works best when scanning fingerprints, something other manufacturers might take note of for the future.