Analyst: Apple’s next-gen iPhone’s Home button fingerprint sensor would be difficult for rivals to copy

“Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone this year with a fingerprint sensor hidden beneath the home button — an intuitive design that could be difficult for competing Android and Windows Phone devices to copy,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.

“Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities expects Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec to pay off this year with the so-called ‘iPhone 5S,’ the company’s anticipated next-generation handset,” Hughes reports. “He believes that with the addition of a fingerprint sensor below the iPhone’s home button, Apple will be able to replace the use of usernames and passwords, allowing users to authenticate in a more efficient manner. He also expects that the fingerprint scanner will integrate with applications such as Passbook to enhance their functionality.”

Hughes reports, “Kuo has a particularly strong track record in predicting Apple’s future product pipeline.”

Much more in the full article – recommended – here.

Related articles:
AuthenTec’s sale of encryption unit hints Apple’s interest lies in NFC and fingerprint readers – November 19, 2012
Fingerprint sensor maker AuthenTec said to dump non-Apple customers in 2013 – September 25, 2012
Apple steps closer toward integrated mobile payment market – August 29, 2012
How NFC could fit into Apple’s iPhone 5 – August 29, 2012
Apple wins NFC-enabled barcode-reading ‘on-the-go shopping list’ patent – August 7, 2012
Apple’s $356 million AuthenTec buy a possible prelude to mobile e-payments – July 27, 2012
Apple patent application details iOS devices that control everything in your home via NFC – July 27, 2012
Apple to buy AuthenTec for $356 million – July 27, 2012
Researcher takes complete control of Android and Nokia phones by merely waving another device near them – July 26, 2012
Mobile e-payments via NFC not ready for prime time until Apple says it is – July 18, 2012
How local businesses and Apple’s Passbook could deliver an unbeatable iWallet – July 13, 2012
The death of cash; paying by iPhone about to become a way of life – July 9, 2012
Don’t overlook Apple’s new Passbook or you might miss the future of payments – June 12, 2012
Apple granted U.S. patent for all-new iWallet credit system architecture – June 5, 2012
Inside Apple’s secret plan to kill the cash register – May 19, 2012
Apple’s iWallet: The one that will rule the world – March 21, 2012
Apple’s new iWallet patent hints at new killer app – March 9, 2012
Apple wins major U.S. ‘iWallet’ patent; the one that may one day ‘rule the world’ – March 6, 2012
Apple invents ingenious security system for the iWallet era – January 9, 2012
Apple patent app describes future iOS devices communicating with parking meters, doors, cash registers and much more – September 22, 2011

34 Comments

  1. Except that I like face recognition better- imagine just picking up the phone and it activates the forward facing camera (if it was asleep, the accelerometer wakes it up), sees it’s you and unlocks the phone. Assuming they allow for multiple faces (as well as the slide to unlock with passcode if you want to lend your phone out), you won’t have to push any button at all…

    1. Android tried that. It didn’t work.
      It was easy to bypass by holding up a photo of the user.

      A fingerprint is still the gold standard for authentication. And it’s unobtrusive.

      That, combined with passbook, combined with hundreds of millions of iTunes accounts, is a recipe for a mobile payment system that will get adopted and used.

    2. The problem with facial recognition is that someone could hold a photo of you to the phone and authenticate w/o your permission… Say, a child who wants into dad’s phone?

  2. The fingerprint home button sensor is no big deal, it will be quickly copied one way or another just like everything else. But the big thing does seem to be the plastic exterior. I think that is going to be huge. Like original imac huge.

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