There will be a massive 10 trillion fingerprint scans on smartphones and other devices this year, according to Deloitte鈥檚 TMT Predictions.
Great news for anyone who struggles to remember passwords, more than one billion devices will soon be聽equipped with the technology.
In its 16th annual event, at the Old Granada Studios in Manchester, Deloitte predicted fingerprint scanning sensors will be as ubiquitous as front-facing smartphone cameras by the end of the decade.
According to Deloitte: 鈥淭he smartphone fingerprint reader鈥檚 popularity is down to its ability to provide a rapid, discreet and secure way of unlocking phones and authenticating transactions 鈥� phones being the device that most people have with them throughout the day.鈥�
The mainstream adoption of smartphone biometrics could act as a catalyst for the technology to be adopted in other sectors and other environments.
For example, finger vein and palm vein scanners can be integrated into ATMs, or incorporated into the authorisation process for high-value online money transfers.
Schools could use a vein scanner as a means of authenticating access to the building, and for registering when a pupil has left.
Deloitte head of TMT Ed Shedd told CNBC: 鈥淲e expect that there鈥檒l be an active base of about a billion users, mainly through smartphones. And it鈥檚 really fingerprint reading that is going to be enormous.
鈥淲e reckon about 80 per cent of those people whose devices have readers actually use fingerprint technology. So they use it more than they do voice recognition, or eye recognition. Most people think it鈥檚 quite easy to use and the beauty of it is it鈥檚 also quite secure.鈥�
A growing number of countries may also consider using biometrics in national identity schemes. A programme in India, which collects facial, fingerprint and iris data, surpassed one billion registrants in 2016.
There will soon be over one billion devices equipped with fingerprint readers in use worldwide.
With each sensor being used around 30 times a day, it will mean over 10 trillion aggregate presses globally in 2017.