Design Delays

Samsung has gotten a lot of criticism for what they did with the fingerprint sensor. In the S7 it is on the home button, but the S8 has only a virtual button and is near bezel less, so it had to move. Putting it on the back is logical next best option, but their choice baffles most of us. Here's what it really looks like.

The problems are (a) the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera lense and (b) it's still small (just rotated 90° from the S7). Now I don't know what is under the hood and what challenges they faced in moving this sensor, but it can be done differently. Here's how LG did it.

I can see not wanting to copy or be accused of copying. So how about this?

This design will take care of both criticisms A and B above, and would make the fingerprint sensor be in the better place for us right handed people who hold our phones with our left hand. My pessimistic hypothesis is they've already thought of this and are just waiting for the S9 to do it. The current state may just get annoying enough after a year that people will upgrade just because of it.

In the same vein, I've wondered why the iPhone doesn't have wireless charging yet. My pessimistic hypothesis is Apple is developing a new wireless charging standard that's incompatible with existing standards but works as good and allows them to continue selling proprietary chargers. Sure, they'll claim it's some percentage better than the industry standard, but that wasn't the point, it wasn't about helping the consumer, it's about market control. I don't have to respect that.

Remember my post from Sept 2014 about the inevitable cell phone design...