I had two Samsung flagship phones, one (S20FE) had an optical fingerprint reader and the other (S22) had an ultrasonic one. Both of them somewhat regularly failed to read my finger, were slower than a fingerprint reader on the power button and are more expensive/complex to build. They won’t work with cheap 3rd party screen replacements and some screen protectors as well.
Meanwhile my $90 Android phone has a fingerprint reader on the power button. It never fails and I never have to perfectly place my finger on the sensor area to get it to work. It just seems like the perfect place to put a fingerprint sensor, so why do phone manufacturers keep using in-display fingerprint readers over the cheaper alternative?
The S9 had the fingerprint reader centered on the back. It was awesome.
As did the Pixel 2. Still miss the back scanner
Nexus 6P / 5X all the way to Pixel 5 had it.
While I miss the rear scanner, I have had no issues with the under-display type in the 6/7/8. I see people online every time this topic comes up, screaming that it’s awful, but… cannot reproduce, ticket closed.
Plus you could use it to drop down the notification window with a gesture. It was handy.