Sonavation, a security technology firm has just announced that fingerprint sensors can now be embedded under Gorilla Glass thanks to sensors that can now be bonded directly to the display. This could potentially give rise to iPhones that are devoid of home buttons.
Sonavation claim that this 3D fingerprint scanning technology will be accurate no matter what the situation. That means regardless of whether your finger is oily, dirty or moist, you can expect the same level of accuracy.
Earlier reports had suggested that Apple is looking forward to getting rid of their home button in order to make the device smaller by reducing bezel size. Even though that is likely to happen only by 2017 or so at the earliest, this technology shows us a step in the right direction.
Currently, the home button houses the fingerprint sensor and if this technology truly works like they claim it does, then Apple might consider removing the home button altogether since its other functions could be easily replaced thanks to force touch and other gestures..
While Apple already have similar patents for such a setup, it is quite possible that they might outsource the tech from Sonavation or perhaps even acquire it if the technology is what they’re looking for. Currently this technology works with Gorilla Glass but we aren’t sure if it does work with Sapphire Glass too as that may cause an issue in case they decide to switch to that in the future.