Apple Face ID to Have Significant Impact on Global Mobile Biometric Market

Goode Intelligence, a leading research and consultancy organisation for the biometrics industry, has issued an analyst report, examining the impact of Apple Face ID on the market, and forecasts that revenues for mobile and wearable biometric authentication will exceed USD 14.75 billion by 2022.

In its latest report, Mobile & Wearable Biometric Authentication Market Analysis and Forecasts 2017-2022 (fourth edition), Goode Intelligence also predicts that by 2022 over 1.7 billion devices will have integrated biometric hardware and over 2.1 billion biometric software licenses will be sold.

Alan Goode, author of the report and founder of Goode Intelligence said: “The market continues to evolve and the announcement that Apple is replacing Touch ID fingerprint authentication with 3D facial recognition technology for its new flagship model, the iPhone X, is significant.

“3D facial recognition technology uses infrared (IR), neural networks and machine learning to support biometric authentication on a bezel-less OLED display – which so far has proved problematic using a fingerprint sensor.

“When Apple announced Touch ID in 2013, it revolutionised consumer biometric authentication and led to an explosion of fingerprint sensors being integrated in almost all new smartphones. We expect that Face ID is likely to be disruptive and to impact the market – we’ll see Android Original Equipment Manufacturers’ (OEMs) replicate Apple’s move by integrating 3D facial recognition technology into their flagship models – however Fingerprint will continue to play an important role for OEMs both in single and multi-modal strategies.”