Face, iris and pulse-based biometric authentication systems will increasingly eat away at the market share of fingerprint technologies, according to a new report from ABI Research.
The analyst claimed in its Biometric Technologies and Applications report that the falling cost of iris recognition will spur uptake, while facial recognition continues to improve in accuracy thanks to advanced machine learning algorithms.
The latter has already seen significant increase in penetration thanks to Apple’s decision to incorporate it into the iPhone X, while Samsung offers iris recognition in the Galaxy S8 and S9, the analyst continued.
The Internet of Things is also driving an uptake in newer biometric systems: with card-free ATMs being developed by Samsung and Diebold Nixdorf, OEMs in the automotive sector including GM, Nissan and Volvo investing heavily and new government rules in APAC set to mandate biometrics in a range of sectors including banking and telecoms, ABI Research claimed.
However, this is far from the end for fingerprints, according to industry analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis.
“Even though fingerprint sensor ASPs have taken a significant hit over the last couple of years, total fingerprint sensor shipments for the entire consumer market is still estimated to reach 1.2 billion worldwide for 2018, thus ensuring its market dominance,” he claimed.
“However, from established markets such as banking and payments to emerging ones like automotive and future-looking ones including robotics, we expect to see an increase in multi-modal applications and a scenario where biometrics is a critical component of a user’s digital ID in the emerging IoT ecosystem.”
Ryan Wilk, vice-president at NuData Security, said convenience, context and security are key to the biometric authentication market.
“One thing that does not change is human behavior; an identifier that cyber-criminals cannot mimic. By better understanding and contextualizing human behavior — not just their physical characteristics — companies can have a better understanding of who the human behind the device really is,” he added.