A recent study released by Juniper Research, titled Mobile Payment Authentication: Biometrics, Regulation & Market Forecasts 2021-2025, reveals that the number of users using software-powered facial recognition to conduct secure digital payments will surpass 1.4 billion internationally within the next 5 years (up from only around 671 million in 2020).
This significant growth of around 120% in facial recognition software adoption shows how widespread or widely used this technology may become; driven by its relatively low barriers to entry, a convenient front-facing camera, and easy-to-use software.
The research study from Juniper noted that the implementation of FaceID by Apple has helped accelerate and support the steady growth of the facial recognition market, even though there were certain challenges to facial recognition during the COVID-19 crisis (like with people wearing face masks).
Juniper’s research findings suggest that facial recognition vendors should look into using more robust and fast-evolving AI-enabled ID verification processes to ensure the validity of users’ identities. Without proper measures to implement these features, companies or service providers could risk losing customers’ trust in the authentication process as spoofing or fake attempts increase.
The Juniper Research report further revealed that fingerprint sensors will feature on over 90% of biometrically equipped smartphones within the next 5 years. This compares quite favorably to hardware-enabled facial recognition, with only around 17% of biometrically equipped smartphones having this type of functionality by 2025, the report noted.
Susan Morron, one of the report’s authors, explained that hardware-based facial recognition “is growing, but the ability to carry out facial recognition via software is limiting its adoption rate.”
As more consumers and businesses begin to require highly secure mobile authentication methods, smartphone vendors will also have to seriously look into using more robust hardware-based systems in order to ensure that fraudsters are not finding ways to compromise user data or their financial privacy.
The research study also revealed that the use of voice recognition for settling payments has been rising from just 111 million users last year to an estimated 704 million by 2025. The report pointed out that voice recognition is mainly used right now in banking services and could experience challenges when trying to expand to other services because of potential issues related to its overall robustness.
Vendors might start looking into supporting multi-method biometric processes, which may include facial recognition, fingerprints, voice, and various behavioral indicators in order to ensure that transactions are carried out in a secure manner.