2020 Biometric Device Market to See Significant Revenue Hit Due to COVID-19: ABI Report

“But the COVID-19-related changes don’t impact all contact-based biometrics vendors in the same way, ABI says.”

The biometric device market will take a $2 billion hit in revenues this year due to the impact of COVID-19, according to a new report from ABI Research.

“Contact biometric technologies like fingerprint and vein have been dealt a substantial blow due to new governmental regulations targeting contact and close-proximity interactions,” explained ABI Research Digital Security Analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis in a statement. “Fingerprint biometrics vendors are struggling to uphold the new stringent hygiene and infectious control protocols.”

The findings echo some of those found in a report issued by MarketsandMarkets earlier this week, which predicted a near-term drop in the demand for biometric technologies due to wariness over contact-based systems.

But the COVID-19-related changes don’t impact all contact-based biometrics vendors in the same way, ABI says. Pavlakis went on to explain that fingerprint sensor vendors focused on consumer device markets, such as Fingerprint Cards and Goodix, are mostly being impact by COVID-19 in terms of its effect on smartphone sales, since the biometric devices concerned in these applications are generally used on an individual basis, and aren’t shared.

Meanwhile, “innovative companies like Gemalto and IDEMIA have already adapted their solutions offering contact-less fingerprint sensing technologies,” Pavlakis said. And contactless biometric modalities like facial and iris recognition are getting increasing attention, with the former algorithms being adapted specifically to scan users wearing face masks.

ABI Research says that COVID-19 will have a negative impact on the government and security market this year to the tune of $1.1 billion, while fingerprint device sales are expected to drop by $1.2 billion. The overall biometric device market will see a value of $28.2 billion this year.