While the trend in recent years has been away from physical buttons on smartphones, it may make a bit of a comeback in 2014 as more manufacturers incorporate fingerprint scanners into their mobile devices. Citing its usual “industry sources,” Digitimes reports that both HTC and LG could follow in Apple’s footsteps with their next flagships and adopt fingerprint scanners that also serve as home buttons.
The report suggests that both the the HTC One 2 (also known as the HTC M8) and LG G3 will use sapphire glass home buttons due to the material’s high resistance to scratching. It remains to be seen if either will adopt a fingerprint scanner that simply requires you to hold your finger on the button (as the pictured iPhone 5S does) or will continue to require a swiping motion (as the HTC One Max does).
The return of home buttons is not certain though. Both HTC and LG have a history of using the back of devices for additional functionality. The LG G2 features rear-mounted volume buttons while the HTC One Max already sports a fingerprint scanner on the back. Both could continue that tradition with their next flagship devices.
It’s likely that we will see fingerprint scanners appear on more smartphones next year. They could well become the next ubiquitous feature on our mobile devices over the next few years.
Source : Digitimes