Fingerprint Cards (FPC) is predicting that the market for active capacitive fingerprint sensors will remain strong despite the growing popularity of in-display fingerprint sensors in some recent smartphones. The company noted that it has continuously updated the design of its sensors to keep pace with the rate of innovation and deliver the same utility in a sleeker package.
In that regard, FPC called particular attention to its new FPC1542 sensor, which debuted in October and has since appeared in several new Xiaomi handsets. The FPC1542 is a curved sensor that can be integrated into the power or volume button on the side of the phone to enable capacitive fingerprint recognition without taking up space on the front or back of the device.
According to FPC, the sensor demonstrates how equipment manufacturers can make small design adjustments to improve the user experience in a meaningful way. The company argued that capacitive sensors still offer a compelling blend of convenience and security, making them an appealing option even when measured against newer authentication technologies like in-display sensors and face and iris recognition.
With that in mind, FPC believes that capacitive sensor shipments will increase in the next several years, reaching an estimated 800 million units annually by 2026. Those numbers speak to the growing ubiquity of mobile technology more generally. More and more people are storing digital IDs and making payments with their smartphones, and that creates a need for security solutions that can protect that sensitive information without creating friction.
As it stands, Juniper has indicated that biometric technologies will secure more than $3 trillion in mobile transactions by 2025. FPC, meanwhile, noted that authentication technologies are not mutually exclusive, and that capacitive sensors can be deployed alongside PINs, passwords, or facial recognition to enable two-factor authentication, or to provide people with options that are better suited to different situations. For example, someone might prefer to use a fingerprint sensor to unlock their phone while they are wearing a mask.
FPC credited its smartphone business for its strong sales figures in the first quarter of 2021.
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May 17, 2021 – by Eric Weiss
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