Tech Companies Sprinting to Bring Biometric Sensors to Android

In six months, the first flagship Android smartphones with biometric sensors of their own will hit the market. At least, that’s what FIDO Alliance, a group of 48 tech companies led by PayPal and Lenovo, is pushing for. In an interview with USA Today, FIDO president Michael Barrett explained the group’s plans to eliminate the smartphone password once and for all.

FIDO isn’t just a group of companies, it’s also an alternative to Apple’s Touch ID that Barrett hopes will become the norm across Android devices and maybe even take over iOS at some point. Still, he notes  such a goal is “probably a couple of years out.” The group first launched in February, and claims the first FIDO-equipped smartphones will hit the market early next year.

It’s possible, however, that the first Android handset with a FIDO fingerprint scanner (the Atrix had a fingerprint scanner, if you remember) could arrive earlier than Barrett predicts. Leaked photos of the HTC One Max—which is expected to launch this fall—suggest that the device features a square-shaped biometric sensor on its back panel.

Meanwhile, Samsung reportedly has no interest in integrating the technology, which could be a problem since the company dominates the Android market, shipping 73.2 million smartphones in Q2 2013 alone.