Fingerprint sensors are about to get pretty popular. Samsung has had a fingerprint sensor in the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy S6. Google has just introduced Android Pay and Android M at Google I/O which both support fingerprint sensors, which means that we’re going to see better support for them in the near future. Fingerprint sensors are definitely more secure than just using a pattern or pin on your device.
According to Digitimes, who can sometimes be on point with reports and sometimes can be very far off. They are stating that prices for fingerprint sensor modules in the second half of 2015 will drop to about $4. That’s dropping from about $7-8 from the first half of 2015. Their sources have said that an increase in fingerprint sensor suppliers have led to an increase in competition in the market. Which is great for smartphone OEMs, as it means it’ll cost less for them to include the hardware in their smartphones.
Since Apple included a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S almost two years ago, we’ve been seeing more and more devices coming out with fingerprint sensors. Like the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Meizu MX4 Pro, Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and even the HTC One Max. Some of these fingerprint sensors worked flawlessly, some not so much. And it’s only going to get more popular, now that support for fingerprint sensors are included in AOSP.
Digitimes Sources also said that Taiwan-based fingerprint sensor manufacturers are set to see their orders increase drastically for new Android smartphones that will be coming out in 2016. It sounds like fingerprint sensors might be the next big thing, when it comes to specs on our smartphones. While fingerprint sensors aren’t the most popular feature, they are gaining traction. Even though the Motorola Atrix was one of the first to have one, no one has really implemented it as well as Meizu and Samsung have done on the Android side. It will be interesting to see what Android devices come out in 2016 that have a fingerprint sensor. I’d be surprised to see the Nexus smartphones coming out this fall, to come without one though.