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Phone With First In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Featured At CES

LAS VEGAS (CBS) -- The trend toward edge-to-edge phone screens has left Apple and Samsung stumped: where to put that fingerprint sensor?

One company has pulled off what the big players couldn't, and put it on display at CES in Las Vegas.

The phone, made by Chinese company Vivo, looks like most of its competitors' newest models, until you go to unlock it.

"It's the first phone ever to use an in-display fingerprint reader," explains CNET's Jessica Dolcourt.

That sensor is embedded under the screen. The touch target graphic appears when it needs your print and then, Dolcourt says, it fades away.

"This is something that's been rumored for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Note 8 after that, and the iPhone X after that. It's going to revolutionize the whole phone industry and every phone's going to have it. That didn't happen," she said.

Samsung stuck the fingerprint reader on the back of its phones. Apple switched to face recognition.

Dolcourt says this optical reader from Synaptics illuminates your print; that's reflected into the sensor where it's authenticated.

"We're going to start seeing this in phones in 2018 and beyond," Dolcourt said.

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