Lu Weibing/Weibo

In-display fingerprint sensors are commonplace on flagship phones and some mid-range devices, but they require an OLED screen. Thankfully, biometric authentication companies like Goodix have previously confirmed plans to bring the technology to LCD screens in 2020.

Now, Redmi general manager Lu Weibing has demonstrated an LCD smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The executive posted a video to Weibo, while also explaining how the tech works. Check out the clip below.

In-display fingerprint sensors on OLED screens are able to “peek” through the pixels in order to read a user’s fingerprint, with pixels also able to light up the finger. But the presence of a backlight component on LCD screens complicates matters. Fortunately, Lu says they’ve got a solution, turning to infrared light instead.

“The innovative use of infrared high-transmittance film material greatly improves the transmittance of infrared light that could not pass through the screen,” the Xiaomi and Redmi executive explains (via machine-translation).

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“The infrared transmitter at the bottom of the screen emits infrared light. After the fingerprint is reflected, it penetrates the screen and shines on the fingerprint sensor to complete the fingerprint verification.”

Hopefully this solution is on par with OLED-based in-display fingerprint sensors when it comes to speed and accuracy. But we do wonder whether there’s scope to expand the area of the screen that can read your fingerprint. In any event, there’s no word on whether we’ll see a commercially available Redmi phone with this tech in 2020.

Do you prefer in-display fingerprint sensors or physical scanners? Let us know in the comments section!