FPC Launches the FPC1150, the World’s First Home Button-Touch Fingerprint Sensor for Android Smartphones

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire / — Fingerprint Cards (FPC) is today launching the FPC1150, the world’s first touch fingerprint sensor specifically developed to be mounted as a home button on the front side of an Android smartphone or tablet. The FPC1150 is rectangular in shape and less than half the size of the previously announced FPC1020.

The rapid availability of the FPC1150 is the result of an accelerated pace of product development in FPC that has been made possible by the cooperation with Anacatum Design AB, the Swedish ASIC and analog IP development company recently acquired by FPC. Thanks to the small size and attractive design resulting from several packaging options of the FPC1150, it is now possible for the first time for smartphone OEMs to integrate a touch fingerprint sensor mounted as a home button on the front side of the device. This contrasts with the previously announced FPC1020 and FPC1021, which were designed with the objective of being mounted on the back side of the device.

In order to satisfy the size constraints of a home button-sized touch fingerprint sensor, new cutting-edge methods have been applied to enable the industry-leading performance provided by the FPC1150. To ensure fast time to market and leading performance, the FPC1150 reuses the industry-leading sensor design of its predecessors, the FPC1020 and the recently announced FPC1021, allowing for ultra-low power consumption, highly attractive and customizable industry design and strong resistance to wear and tear. The touch fingerprint sensor capability combined with the small size of the FPC1150 offers excellent ease of use, enabling mobile device OEMs to use the FPC1150 as a home button for secure and convenient user verification. The FPC1150 supports the Android™ and Windows™ operating systems.

Complete FPC1150 LGA prototypes have been verified in FPC’s development sites and the first deliveries of engineering samples to customers will start shortly. Thanks to the highly scalable architecture of FPC’s touch fingerprint sensor technology, which enables extensive reuse of the FPC1020 technology currently being shipped for integration in commercial devices, mass-market manufacturing of the FPC1150 will start as early as the third quarter of 2014.

Jorgen Lantto, Executive Vice President, CTO and Head of Strategy & Product Management at FPC, comments: “The FPC1150 is FPC’s most significant product launch to date. Using the FPC1150, smartphone and tablet OEMs can now for the first time integrate a touch fingerprint sensor as a home button mounted on the front of the device without having to compromise the industrial design of the device, and yet deliver the ultimate experience in secure user authentication. This announcement is confirmation that FPC is delivering new, highly competitive products at an accelerated pace, and our objective with the FPC1150 is to secure and strengthen our position as the global number one supplier of touch fingerprint sensors for smartphone and tablet OEMs.”