Eye recognition set to rival fingerprints for biometrics

ABI Research predicts in a new report that fingerprint sensors in smartphones will surge to reach a 95% penetration rate of smartphone shipments by 2022.

This will prompt new opportunities for biometric technologies, such as eye recognition, to be utilized as part of novel identification and payment applications for both the banking and governmental markets.

“While enterprise markets aggressively adopt vein recognition technologies in physical access control applications, eye recognition technologies will soon be one of the most secure modalities for consumer electronics authentication and secure mobile payments,” ABI Research industry analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis said.

With each passing market quarter, biometric technologies are extending their reach in consumer electronics, while OEMs in the Asia-Pacific region are aggressively driving new implementations.

This will fuel an exponential growth in mobile banking and payment apps as banks and financial organizations prove to be less timid when embracing new biometric implementations. ABI Research finds that OEMs and service providers are now actively targeting the emerging IoT, smart home, and automotive segments as future growth areas for biometrics.

“Vein recognition workforce management software and access control solutions in the enterprise market depict an impressive 18% five-year growth rate, boosted by market leaders like Fujitsu and Hitachi,” concludes Pavlakis.

“Innovative startups like HYPR are making strides in improving biometric blockchain capabilities, while wearable pioneers like Nymi are triggering a domino effect with heart rate-empowered payments.”