LG and Samsung Race to Follow Apple's Touch ID in 2014
At Samsung's big smartphone event held in September prior to Apple's iPhone 5S event, they were to introduce a fingerprint scanner feature to beat Apple to market with a biometric security feature. The anticipation was high and yet in the end Samsung failed to deliver this forecasted feature. A month later they pathetically blamed US firm Validity for their failure to deliver a fingerprint scanning feature on time. Then a rumor surfaced that Samsung was testing a Retina Scanner for their next generation biometric security solution which was supported by a Samsung patent filing that surfaced a month later. In December we followed up with a report titled "Smartphone Players are scrambling to Adopt Fingerprint ID." The report covered a forecast by Sweden's Fingerprint Cards that fingerprint scanners would surface on Android phones in 2014. Today, it's being reported that LG Electronics is testing a prototype for its next flagship smartphone G3, equipped with fingerprint recognition technology.
Supply chain sources tell the Korean press that "LG has recently made a decision to adopt the fingerprint scanner on the upcoming G3, the successor of the G2, and is conducting a series of tests for the product.
The fingerprint recognition technology would likely come as a swipe fingerprint sensor, different from the area-type system utilized on Apple's iPhone 5S, according to the official."
It is said that LG's flagship smartphone and new wearable gadgets will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona in February. LG's wearable devices could include a smart watch dubbed the G-Arch and health and fitness wristband G-Health, both of which are expected to sync with their new G3 smartphone.
The official forecast is that more smartphone makers will roll out smartphone models with the fingerprint technology next year and that Apple will be installing Touch ID on a broader range of products including their iPad in 2014, according to sources.
And lastly, the Korean report states that Samsung Electronics' upcoming Galaxy 5S is one of the candidates to adopt biometric authentication technology, though whether it'll be iris or fingerprint recognition is still unknown at this time.
As we noted earlier this month, Apple's Android competitors are in fact scrambling to adopt fingerprint ID to match Apple's Touch ID. Yet Android fans still sadly whine that Apple invented nothing here and dismissed Touch ID as having no value. Yes, that's why the leading Android smartphone OEMs are scrambling to match this useless feature at neck breaking speed. Ha! The foolishness of dedicated Android Zombies never ceases to amaze me.
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