BY Fraser Tennant
The number of users of software-based facial recognition to secure payments will exceed 1.4 billion globally by 2025, from just 671 million in 2020, according to a new study by Juniper Research.
The study, ‘Mobile Payment Authentication: Biometrics, Regulation & Market Forecasts 2021-2025’, states that this 120 percent growth demonstrates how widespread facial recognition has become – a rapid increase fuelled by its low barriers to entry, a front-facing camera and appropriate software.
Furthermore, the study identified the implementation of FaceID by Apple as accelerating the growth of the wider facial recognition market, despite the challenges to facial recognition during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with the use of face masks.
The study also recommends that facial recognition vendors implement robust and rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI)-based verification checks to ensure the validity of user identity, or risk losing user trust in the authentication method as spoofing attempts increase.
“Hardware-based facial recognition is growing, but the ability to carry out facial recognition via software is limiting its adoption rate,” said Susan Morrow, associate analyst at Juniper Research and co-author of the study. “As the need for a secure mobile authentication environment grows, smartphone vendors will need to increasingly turn to more robust hardware-based systems to keep pace with fraudsters’ evolving tactics.”
The Juniper study also found that the use of voice recognition for payments is increasing, from 111 million users in 2020, to over 704 million expected in 2025. The study identified that, at present, voice recognition is mostly used in banking, and will struggle to grow beyond this, due to concerns around robustness.
Juniper Research recommends that vendors adopt a multi-method biometric strategy, encompassing facial recognition, fingerprints, voice and behavioural indicators to ensure a secure payment environment.
Report: Mobile Payment Authentication: Biometrics, Regulation & Forecasts 2021-2025