There is little doubting that security is becoming more and more of an issue with smartphones and portable devices. As they evolve and become more complex, they also become more all-knowing about their users. Their evolution does offer an increase in functions, features and things-they-can-do, but the offset of this multi-purpose nature is that users can become more vulnerable to intrusion, data loss and breaching. Therefore, there always seems to be this balance manufacturers look for (and consumers expect) between what a phone can do with how secure the device is.
With an ever-increasing dependency on security, it is less surprising that companies are looking more towards making devices more secure at the hardware level. Of course, a simple PIN-lock is still considered to be one of the best ways to protect yourself but even these can be bypassed at points. However, a hardware solution like a fingerprint scanner is far harder to breach. Fingerprints are unique and therefore, offer an increased level of security while at the same time, actually offering users an easier way to log in. That is, when the function works correctly.
As typical with these new technologies, Samsung was one of the first to start trying to employ a fingerprint scanner. However, they were not the first to employ the technology with Apple certainly being one of the first overall with the introduction of their Touch ID. That said, going forward, the prediction is that fingerprint scanners are going to be far more prevalent in the future, within the android ecosystem. In fact, sources at the Taiwanese IC backend service companies are suggesting that as many as 50 million devices are expected to ship with fingerprint scanners in 2015 from China-based handset makers. The same sources go on to highlight how until now, slide-based fingerprint scanners have been far more prevalent than press based scanners. This is largely believed to be a result of the cost difference to the manufacturer, with the slide based options costing on average $3-5 while the press options coming in at a more premium $8-10. However, the sources predict that in 2015, the cost of press-sensors will drop as low as $4. Which, in turn, should result in a much wider usage on android devices. What do you think of fingerprint scanners? Do you prefer to have one on your device? Let us know.