Xiaomi tipped to be bringing in-screen fingerprint sensors to its phones

We've already seen phones with in-screen fingerprint sensors, but no one has managed the trick on a major, flagship handset designed for the masses yet. Based on the latest sneak peek video to hit the web, Chinese giant Xiaomi could win the race to get there before Samsung does.

A clip posted to Chinese social networking site Weibo and picked up by SlashLeaks show's someone unlocking their phone with a firm press on the front display. The demo certainly looks a lot like the in-screen fingerprint sensors that we've seen produced so far.

Apparently the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 8 is a good bet for this technology, and that's the phone that's supposedly shown in this clip. We don't know exactly when the handset is going to launch in Asia, but the most recent speculation points to an official launch happening before the end of the month.

But is it real?

Can we trust our eyes though? The video certainly looks authentic (and it's a lot harder to fake a video than a still image), but at the same time it comes from a relatively unknown source rather than an established tipster. It's currently holding at a 60% trustworthiness score on SlashLeaks, so make of that what you will.

We know for sure that this kind of technology is pretty much ready to go when the manufacturers want it – it's just a question of reliability and cost and all those other factors that go into deciding what to include in a phone and what to leave out.

After all, having a fingerprint sensor on the back of a phone isn't a complete disaster, so phone makers will only adopt this tech when it makes sense to do so. Another phone tipped to be including an in-display fingerprint sensor is the Nokia 9, which we're expecting to see before the end of the year.