Fingerprint Cards (FPC) has landed a major client for its dedicated PC fingerprint sensor solution. In that regard, the company has revealed that its sensors will appear in the power buttons of the new ThinkBook 14 and ThinkBook 15 G4 laptops from Lenovo.
While FPC has previously provided sensors for Lenovo handsets, the new ThinkBooks will be the first Lenovo laptop models with FPC fingerprint technology. The company is hoping that the deal will lead to a larger portion of the PC fingerprint market, since Lenovo accounted for roughly a quarter of all global PC shipments as the largest PC manufacturer in the world in 2021.
The size of the overall PC market has also increased dramatically during the pandemic. About 270 million computers were shipped in 2019, and that number climbed to 350 million in 2021 as more people started working remotely. FPC believes that the 350 million figure will be the new normal for the PC market moving forward, and suggested that more than 80 percent of those devices will eventually ship with a fingerprint sensor. Around 20 percent of PCs currently come with a sensor, but FPC is predicting that the technology will become more popular and will be integrated at a rate comparable to that seen in the smartphone industry.
FPC’s fingerprint sensor can be deployed as a Match on Host solution that processes biometric data in the computer’s CPU, or as a Match on Chip solution that stores all biometric data separately. The former is geared toward consumer devices with a single user, while the latter offers a higher level of security for enterprise PCs. Both are compatible with the Windows Hello authentication system, though only the Match on Chip solution sits on Microsoft’s approved vendor list (AVL) for Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security,
“There is a strong positive trend in demand for biometric authentication in PCs, which this launch illustrates,” said FPC Mobile, PC, and Access China President Ted Hansson. “Fingerprints is very well positioned in this segment, and we expect to be able to announce further product launches with our PC solution in the near future.”
FPC’s PC sensor solution has already been featured in laptops from Dell and Honor. Lenovo, meanwhile, placed a Synaptics sensor in its ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook back in March of 2021.
Follow Us