According to the latest research from Counterpoint Research, more than one billion fingerprint sensor-enabled smartphones will be shipped in 2018. The fingerprint sensor is likely to become the standard choice for smartphone OEMs to provide for authentication. In recent times, almost all the smartphones are arriving with a fingerprint scanner on board.
Research Director Neil Shah, highlighted, “Samsung was the market leader within fingerprint-enabled smartphones, contributing to 12% market share, followed by Apple and Huawei with 11% and 8% respectively, during Q2 2017. In terms of adoption across the total portfolio shipments, Apple and Xiaomi led, followed by Huawei and OPPO. However, Samsung, ZTE and LG lagged their rivals with a relatively lower rate of fingerprint sensor integration across their total shipments."
"Chinese brands are already using fingerprint sensors as a differentiator, especially in emerging markets, to compete with local and international brands. They are adding capabilities beyond just unlocking the phones or payments to include gestures to control the camera, gallery and other applications,” he added.
To recall, Cupertino giant, Apple was the first to embed a fingerprint sensor in a smartphone. Back then, Apple employed the tech in Apple iPhone 5s. Right after Apple's implementation, several tech giants started using it on their smartphones. Nowadays, there are some people who're not purchasing a smartphone because of the absence of fingerprint scanner in it.
Karbonn recently launched the cheapest fingerprint scanner smartphone at Rs. 5,290 in India. Some other brands could bring it to the entry-level market as well. Currently, the fastest fingerprint sensor can be seen on smartphones such as Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and OnePlus 5.
Associate director Tarun Pathak, commenting on the fingerprint sensor supplier landscape, notes, “There is an increasing pressure on fingerprint suppliers to match the growing demand of sensors, match the cost expectations to remain competitive and at the same time innovating. Suppliers like Fingerprints, Synaptics & Goodix currently contribute to over half of the total smartphone fingerprint sensors. However, players such as Qualcomm, eGIS and Silead are positioned to grow with more design wins in coming quarters.”
