In what could turn out to be a substantial boost for the already successful company, Goodix has now officially become part of smartphone giant Samsung’s supply chain. That’s according to a recent announcement from the fingerprint sensor solutions manufacturer, made on May 2. Specifically, the company notes that Samsung’s recently launched Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo utilizes a single-chip fingerprint sensor bearing the model number GW32J1. That’s actually the first commercialization of this exact fingerprint scanner and was a joint project between the two companies. The Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo was only just launched near the middle of April for users in India.
As one of the world’s most important markets and with consideration for the handset’s mid-range placement, that should mean substantial production and sales for both Samsung and Goodix. More importantly, the partnership places Goodix as an official supplier to what is arguably one of the most influential smartphone OEMs on the planet. So this deal could also mean good things for the company going forward if everything goes smoothly. Goodix has been a leading supplier of fingerprint biometrics security solutions for quite some time across more than a hundred devices, giving it a vast profile of experience to pull from. Moreover, it was among the first to create and commercialize in-display fingerprint scanning. Coupled with Goodix’s recent acquisition of IoT SoC-maker CommSolid, the partnership could give the company another advantage. Namely, it could help in negotiating supply arrangements for other devices and technologies Samsung might be working on that would require those types of components.
With regard to the Galaxy J7 Duo, that’s a 5.5-inch mid-range handset with a 2.5D curved Super AMOLED display set at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, driven by a 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7 Series SoC clocked at 1.6GHz. The chipset is backed by 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. Power is provided by a 3,000mAh removable battery. Above the display is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with a f/1.9 aperture. The primary camera is a dual-shooter with 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors set with the same f/1.9 aperture. A headphone jack and a Goodix fingerprint scanner are, of course, also part of the package.