Samsung Display Shows Off World’s First OLED Screen with Built-in Fingerprint and Heart Rate Sensors

Samsung Display is no stranger to innovation, especially when you consider that the OLEDs supplied by the company are found in almost all the major smartphone flagships worldwide. Today, the company has unveiled Sensor OLED, the first-ever OLED screen with built-in fingerprint and heart rate sensors. By going for this approach, the company can use these displays and make smartphones and other devices a lot less complex, and we can expect these screens to arrive in flagship phones in the future.

The new Sensor OLED panel could potentially debut in the Samsung Galaxy S24 series with built-in heart rate and fingerprint scanner

So, what is Sensor OLED? Honestly, it is not as complicated as it might sound on paper. Samsung Display has mentioned that this is the world's first OLED panel with a built-in fingerprint sensor and a heart rate sensor. The company will bring this panel to the SID Display Week 2023 event at Los Angeles Convention Center, California, USA. The OLED panel uses a built-in light sensing OPD, and this means that companies who want to go ahead and use a built-in fingerprint sensor will not have to use a separate sensor, which would end up saving cost and space inside the phone.

One of the coolest things about Samsung's new Sensor OLED is that the technology is built into every pixel. This means that the fingerprints and heart rate can be sensed even if you have multiple fingers placed simultaneously, allowing the device to access more accurate information. In addition to that, users will also be able to check their stress levels, and considering how a similar technology was part of the Samsung Health app in the past, I would really like to see it return in future Galaxy flagships, but this time around, with even more advancements than before.

Here is an excerpt from the press release.

Sensor OLED Display can measure the user’s heart rate, blood pressure and stress level simply with the touch of two fingers. OLED light is reflected differently depending on the contraction and relaxation of the blood vessels inside the finger, and when it returns to the panel, the OPD recognizes it and converts it into health information. Samsung Display is the first to unveil panel technology that can simultaneously sense fingerprints and biometric information.

“To accurately measure a person’s blood pressure, it is necessary to measure the blood pressure of both arms,” said a Samsung Display executive. “The Sensor OLED display can simultaneously sense the fingers of both hands, providing more accurate health information than existing wearable devices.”

We currently don't know when we will see such technology making its way to phones, but considering how it is built for phones, it should not take long. I am really hoping that Samsung uses the new Sensor OLED panels in the Galaxy S24 or the Galaxy S25 series, as that will give these phones an added benefit, and many tech-savvy users would automatically gravitate toward these devices.