We select and review products independently. When you purchase through our links we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Thank Goodness, the Pixel 6a Uses a New Fingerprint Sensor

Someone using the Google Pixel 6a fingerprint reader.
Google

After six months of complaints, updates, and weird excuses, the Pixel 6 fingerprint sensor still sucks. It’s slow and unresponsive, likely due to hardware constraints. But thank goodness—the Pixel 6a may not suffer from these problems.

In a conversation with Android Central, Google confirms that the Pixel 6a uses an updated fingerprint sensor. Presumably, this is just a better version of the optical sensor that’s in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. (I seriously doubt that Google will adopt Samsung’s “ultrasonic” sensor. Optical technology works fine, Google just did a bad job implementing it in the Pixel 6.)

Now, maybe you’ve heard rumors about Face Unlock coming to the Pixel 6 Pro. These rumors are probably true, but unfortunately, it seems that Google will stick with fingerprint scanning on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6a.

Here’s my only worry; a recent update reduced fingerprint sensor performance on older Pixel devices. There’s a chance that Google is bad at writing biometric software, in which case, the Pixel 6a’s fingerprint reader may be awful!

Source: Android Central

Andrew Heinzman Andrew Heinzman
Andrew is the News Editor for Review Geek, where he covers breaking stories and manages the news team. He joined Life Savvy Media as a freelance writer in 2018 and has experience in a number of topics, including mobile hardware, audio, and IoT. Read Full Bio »