The Asus ZenFone 3 is in the works, and the handset is reportedly going to be the first to have a fingerprint scanner.
According to unnamed Taiwanese supply chain makers, IC design houses have "stepped up development" of the components, estimating that the prices could fall to $5 apiece by 2016.
"[A]doption of fingerprint recognition technology for smartphones is on the rise and the technology's penetration in the smartphone market is expected to rise from 30% currently to 50% eventually," the sources say.
Before the surge, only high-end phones were usually fitted with fingerprint scanners. With the recent developments, however, even low- and mid-range smartphones can easily have the technology under their hoods, bringing up the possibility of the ZenFone 3 to have it.
"Asustek is likely to adopt fingerprint recognition solutions developed by Taiwan-based Elan Microelectronics and China-based Goodix for ZenFone 3," the sources continue.
The ZenFone series have been performing well across several global markets, including Southeast Asia, Brazil, India, Taiwan and Russia. The smartphone maker is also expected to be getting ready to penetrate the markets in Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt next year.
More to the point, Asus is believed to ship approximately 20 million smartphones in total this year, where 80 percent housed Qualcomm and Intel chipsets and only 20 percent of MediaTek components. In 2016, the smartphone maker is reportedly targeting to ship 30 million units overall.
However, competitors such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Lenovo, Meizu, Vivo, ZTE, TCL and Coolpad are predicted to pose a strong contest in terms of price.
If the reports hold true, then Asus will unveil the ZenFone 3 with fingerprint recognition technology sometime between May and June 2016.
Also, Asus CEO Jerry Shen already mentioned that the ZenFone 3 will be getting a fingerprint sensor back in March. In other words, an official word backs up the news as well.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
