Fingerprint Cards has received its first volume order for its optical under-display fingerprint sensor, the FPC1632.
The order comes from the same unnamed customer that was involved in a design win announced last July, which FPC describes as “a major Asian smartphone OEM”. In announcing the design win last summer, Fingerprint Cards had indicated that it followed testing conducted earlier in 2021, and expected shipments to begin in the fourth quarter.
The order is thus just a little bit late, but nevertheless represents serious traction in Fingerprints’ effort to capture a significant share of a growing new segment of the mobile biometrics market. Having established itself as a leading supplier of sensors during the mobile biometrics boom of the last decade, FPC has in recent years faced headwinds in the market in which it made its name, particularly after the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic. The emergence of under-display sensor technology represents an opportunity to revitalize this part of Fingerprints’ business even as the company seeks to expand into new areas like access control.
“I am very pleased that we are now starting to generate revenue from an entirely new product segment in our portfolio: under-display sensors,” said FPC’s President of Mobile, PC & Access China, Haiyuan Bu. “Being a long-time, well-established world leader in capacitive sensors, Fingerprints can now offer customers a comprehensive fingerprint sensor product range.”
Beyond the importance of the deal to Fingerprint Cards itself, the it also speaks to the ongoing evolution of the mobile biometrics industry as strong, post-password authentication methods continue to gain popularity; and offers a counterpoint to the seeming hegemony of face-based authentication on contemporary smartphones.
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