We may be halfway through 2019, but as the year hurtles onwards, it’s important to pause and reflect on the latest and greatest news from Q2.

With milestones surpassed – and fading into the distance – coupled with the ongoing adoption of biometrics to bring trust to new use cases, Q2 has contributed to a very successful first half of the year.

Here’s my top biometrics news picks from the past three months.

The irresistible advance of biometrics

In May, we announced that Fingerprints has shipped 1 billion biometric sensors worldwide. This announcement was not only an important landmark for us, but for the industry, as it demonstrates the ongoing commitment to, and mass adoption of, biometric authentication.

Contributing to this achievement has been the inclusion of our fingerprint sensors in over 380 smartphone models from more than 30 mobile phone brands. During Q2 alone we announced 15 new mobile handsets launching with our sensors and unique end user features, from a range of manufacturers including four top brands. This increase in deployment is expected to develop further, in 2018 over 70% of the phones shipped had a fingerprint sensor^*.

Moreover, in the past three months, our sensors have continued to be installed beyond traditional mobile phone applications bringing a convenient extra layer of corporate and end user security to two new Chromebooks.

Biometrics’ successful combination of increased authentication speed, decreased fraud and one less thing to remember – as demonstrated by deployments in the mobile world – has paved the way for exciting, next-generation biometric applications across new verticals from access control to payments. The applications are seemingly endless, and many of those are only in their infancy.

A bright future on the cards

Speaking of milestones, with the latest biometric payment card pilot announced for Europe’s top three bank Crédit Agricole, 20 contactless card pilots around the world now incorporate Fingerprints’ touch sensors.

Awareness of the benefits of biometrics is clearly growing, with banks, retailers and consumers recognizing the value of improved customer experience and reduced payment friction. In addition, banks can reduce fraud and foster trust to retain and attract customers while retailers can maximize throughput and reduce drop-outs, increasing revenues.

Most importantly, consumers no longer need compromise security in the name of convenience, they can have their cake and eat it!

Access all areas

Biometric adoption doesn’t stop with mobile phones and payment cards, oh no – they have far broader applications.

BeamU's hardware vault, for example, makes effective use of biometrics to deliver safe online access and secure offline data storage to its customers. Likewise, the FIDO-certified AllinPass FIDO2 K33, from Feitian, allows users to enjoy a strong, user-friendly, passwordless logon experience, using biometric authentication. This will be an interesting area to watch in the future.

A game of two halves

The first half of the year may have hosted some groundbreaking results, but we don’t expect the party to stop here.

The rest of 2019 is set for additional adoption across payment cards and mobile devices. In addition, the ongoing introduction of biometrics into additional form factors – be it IoT devices or the world of accessing data, locations or assets – will continue to grow. It’s going to be an exciting six months.

Interested in learning more about the past, present and future of fingerprint authentication? Check out our blog.

^{*ABI Research}