Samsung Pay app confirms at least one Galaxy S10 model has an in-display fingerprint scanner

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For the past few months, we have analyzed Samsung’s software updates to find out what the company is working on behind-the-scenes. From our analysis, we have found evidence for which primary camera sensor will be used in Samsung’s smartphone with a foldable display, the size and animations used for the Galaxy S10 series’ display cutouts, the Galaxy S10’s Bright Night camera mode, and more. Now, we’ve dug up confirmation for one of the biggest rumors about the Galaxy S10 series: the presence of an in-display fingerprint scanner on at least one of the models.

We’ve heard rumors for nearly 2 years now that Samsung would add an in-display fingerprint scanner in their smartphones. First, it was on the Galaxy S8, then on the Galaxy Note 8, then on the Galaxy S9, and most recently, on the Galaxy Note 9. Of course, none of those products had an in-display fingerprint sensor. After Synaptics and Vivo partnered to release the first commercially-available smartphone with an in-display fingerprint scanner, many other companies followed suit in 2018. The OnePlus 6T is the first flagship smartphone available in America with an in-display fingerprint scanner, and it looks like the Galaxy S10 might be next.

In our teardown of the latest Samsung Pay app, we found two very explicit references to an in-display fingerprint scanner—and one reference directly mentions the Galaxy S10’s code-name! Both of the classes in which we found these references are used for showing the payment authentication window in the Samsung Pay app or online payments on supported sites. The first screenshot on the left is from the SimpleAuthBottomView class, while the second screenshot is from the OnlinePayMainBaseFragment class. What the Samsung Pay app is doing here is checking if the device has an in-display fingerprint scanner, and if so, it’ll shift the payment flow window at the bottom a bit higher up to make more room.

The screenshot below shows the payment flow in the Samsung Pay app. This screenshot was taken on my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 which does not have an in-display fingerprint scanner. If it did have one, then there wouldn’t be enough room at the bottom for the in-display fingerprint scanner icon. That’s why Samsung is making that bottom layout larger if the app is running on “Beyond” (the code-name for the Galaxy S10 series).

Note that all rumored variants of the Samsung Galaxy S10 share the same code-name. Thus, the code snippet doesn’t confirm exactly which variant(s) of the Galaxy S10 will have an in-display fingerprint scanner. We’ve heard that the cheapest model, which is said to be marketed as the Galaxy S10E, will have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The ones that do have an in-display fingerprint sensor are said to make use of Qualcomm’s new ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series will be announced in less than a month. Keep an eye out for more up-to-date information on Samsung Unpacked 2019. If you want to learn more about the Galaxy S10 series, you can watch our XDA TV video on everything we know about the Galaxy S10.

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