Microsoft Surface Phone release date, specs news 2016: Device to feature onscreen fingerprint scanner?

It appears that the Microsoft Surface Phone is in active development and one of the things that Microsoft is looking into is a fingerprint scanner integrated on the display.

This is suggested in a patent filed by the tech company with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Microsoft plans to pull off this onscreen fingerprint scanner by placing a wave guide and filter beneath the display glass, which will work on both OLED and LCD.

When a user taps the screen, a sensor to the side of the glass will detect the fingerprint. The sensor will reportedly debut in the Microsoft Surface Phone.

However, since it is merely a patent, Microsoft will still decide if they would use it on the device. PhoneArena points out that companies like to file patents even though they have no intention of using them.

Either way, if the onscreen fingerprint sensor will find its way to the Microsoft Surface Phone, it should don a thinner build, which is one of the advantages seen in using the feature.

The device will also be unique in the sense that majority of smartphones today embed a fingerprint scanner on the home button. Microsoft will save some space placing the biometric device on the display.

At the moment, the Microsoft Surface Phone is a big mystery to the mobile world. Not much is known about it, but it is still expected to see the light of day by spring next year.

It is expected to be the smartphone that will put Microsoft back into the mobile competition although it is rumored that the company plans to be a business device.

With regards to the specs, it was previously rumored that it will come with three configurations: 128 GB storage with 4 GB RAM, 256 GB with 6 GB RAM and 512 GB with 8 GB RAM.