Fingerprint Cards‘ technology has been integrated into what could prove to be a major new smartphone maker based in Silicon Valley. NextBit’s new Android-based smartphone, Robin, features an FPC1145 fingerprint sensor.
It’s an exciting integration, given the promise of the startup. NextBit is helmed by Tom Moss, a former executive from Google, and has financial backing from Google Ventures and Accel Partners. The company calls Robin a “cloud-first smartphone” that “gets smarter everyday and makes running out of space history.” FPC CEO Jörgen Lantto seems to share in NextBit’s excitement; in a statement, he expressed pride in the integration, calling NextBit “an up and coming smartphone OEM with an interesting business model”.
The integration is also notable for its geography: Over the past several months, FPC has established itself as a leading fingerprint supplier (if not the leading supplier) for Asia-based OEMs; but this new integration helps to establish the company’s presence in the US, and joins another newly-announced integration with a German OEM in expanding the reach of FPC globally.
Perhaps more importantly, though, the integration helps to firm up the trend of fingerprint sensors increasingly becoming standard on mid- and high-end smartphones. Commenting on the integration, Tom Moss asserted, “In our endeavors to provide the consumer with the ultimate user experience for Robin, we consider embedding a touch fingerprint sensor a mandatory feature.”
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