Apple to use in-house fingerprint solution for anniversary iPhone
According to the Taiwanese press, Apple (AAPL) will be using a fingerprint ID solution for its upcoming anniversary iPhone that it has developed internally and will be produced at TSMC (TSM) using a 6nm process. The phone, which is the OLED display version of the anniversary models is also expected to be using biometric technology that it purchased from Virginia-based Privaris (pvt) between the end of 2012 and the end of 2014, which focus on touch and scanning technology that sits below the top screen layer, eliminating the need for a ‘home’ button and opening up additional real estate on the display.
The move from layered touch and identification solutions has been a focus for Apple and rival Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), with Samsung promoting Y-OCTA technology for the upcoming Galaxy S8. This same technology was used in the Note 7, but due to the other issues with the Note 7, was never really promoted. The technology is based on in-cell touch, which incorporates the touch sensor electronics in the display cell itself, replacing the more typical touch film, which is placed on top of the display, and then covered with a protective glass sheet, such as Corning’s (GLW) Gorilla Glass or Asahi’s (5201.JP) Dragontail. This allows the display producer to be in charge of a greater portion of the final display module, and, of course, capture a greater portion of the over display module value.
That said, the process has been somewhat hampered by a lack of display drivers that essentially ‘run’ the touch portion of the device. These chips (known as TDDI[i]) help by removing the need for flexible PCB films normally used to drive touch. The problem has been that TDDI chips have been in short supply, with only two manufacturers in production, Synaptics (SYNA) and FocalTech (3545.TT), causing pricing to be high and availability to be limited. Back in December of last year, we noted that in-cell touch with TDDI represented ~6% of the smartphone market, but was expected to grow to 12% as new Taiwanese suppliers begin production this year, a likely reason for Apple, who has been using in-cell touch since late 2012 (iPhone 5), to want to have a dedicated source. The idea that Apple might be incorporating in-cell touch and/or fingerprint sensors in an OLED device makes the manufacturing a bit more difficult, given the less mature OLED manufacturing technology, but since Samsung Display (pvt) will be Apple’s primary OLED display producer, and SDC has already developed the technology for its parent, Samsung Electronics, we expect few issues with the new touch and fingerprint ID solution.
[i] Touch with Display Driver Integration
The move from layered touch and identification solutions has been a focus for Apple and rival Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), with Samsung promoting Y-OCTA technology for the upcoming Galaxy S8. This same technology was used in the Note 7, but due to the other issues with the Note 7, was never really promoted. The technology is based on in-cell touch, which incorporates the touch sensor electronics in the display cell itself, replacing the more typical touch film, which is placed on top of the display, and then covered with a protective glass sheet, such as Corning’s (GLW) Gorilla Glass or Asahi’s (5201.JP) Dragontail. This allows the display producer to be in charge of a greater portion of the final display module, and, of course, capture a greater portion of the over display module value.
That said, the process has been somewhat hampered by a lack of display drivers that essentially ‘run’ the touch portion of the device. These chips (known as TDDI[i]) help by removing the need for flexible PCB films normally used to drive touch. The problem has been that TDDI chips have been in short supply, with only two manufacturers in production, Synaptics (SYNA) and FocalTech (3545.TT), causing pricing to be high and availability to be limited. Back in December of last year, we noted that in-cell touch with TDDI represented ~6% of the smartphone market, but was expected to grow to 12% as new Taiwanese suppliers begin production this year, a likely reason for Apple, who has been using in-cell touch since late 2012 (iPhone 5), to want to have a dedicated source. The idea that Apple might be incorporating in-cell touch and/or fingerprint sensors in an OLED device makes the manufacturing a bit more difficult, given the less mature OLED manufacturing technology, but since Samsung Display (pvt) will be Apple’s primary OLED display producer, and SDC has already developed the technology for its parent, Samsung Electronics, we expect few issues with the new touch and fingerprint ID solution.
[i] Touch with Display Driver Integration
Comparison of display module touch panel stacks - Source: flatpanelshd.com
RSS Feed