The integration of fingerprint sensors into smartphones and tablets is going from being a trend to becoming the norm. Together with Rutger Petersson, R&D Director at Precise Biometrics, we take a look at the trends and what will happen with fingerprint technology in 2015.
The integration of fingerprint sensors into smartphones and tablets is going from being a trend to becoming the norm. Together with Rutger Petersson, R&D Director at Precise Biometrics, we take a look at the trends and what will happen with fingerprint technology in 2015.
After the summer we have seen some important milestones for the adoption of fingerprint technology. Apple launched their new iPhone and iPad devices, all coming with fingerprint readers. Huawei, one of the top 3 smartphone vendors globally, became first to launch an Android phone with a fingerprint touch sensor and since then others have followed. Both Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Apple launched payments services with secure identity verification through fingerprint technology.
“After the initial introductions of fingerprint technology into smartphones, consumers have really taken the technology to their hearts. During the year, we have seen the convenience of the technology driving consumer demand”, says Rutger Petersson, R&D Director at Precise Biometrics. In 2014 all the top three smartphone vendors have launched flagship products with fingerprint technology and shipments are expected to reach over 300 million units. According to a report by IHS Technology Research, shipments of fingerprint enabled handsets and tablets will reach 1.4 billion in 2020, a staggering growth.
Rutger Petersson sees five trends that will be more important than others for the development of fingerprint technology in 2015.
1. Convenience will continue to drive the demand among consumers. Although swipe sensors are more cost effective, the user experience of touch sensors are superior and we will see more and more vendors opting for touch sensors, not only on the high-end devices.
2. As smartphones and tablets become more advanced, the requirements of small hardware components become even greater. Touch sensors will continue to decrease in size, which poses large technological challenges on especially fingerprint software to ensure a great user experience with high security.
3. As e-commerce continues to grow, fingerprint technology will become an important technology to protect consumers from fraud, hacking and identify theft. Mobile payment services using fingerprint authentication, such as Apple Pay, Paypal and Alipay, will continue to spread quickly and gain approval among consumers.
4. Manufacturers will open up fingerprint technology for App developers, such as in Samsung's SDK Pass and most recently in Apple's iOS 8. This will lead to a strong growth of apps that use fingerprints as a means of identity verification.
5. The security aspect of fingerprint technology will become even more important as more services and functionality are tied to your finger. This will put higher demand on fingerprint software to deliver both convenience and high security, especially as sensors continue to decrease in size.