It turns out that Apple may have been responsible not just for the seeming current downturn in innovating its own products, but contributing to some “missing” parts in the competition as well. Notice that cute “dimple” behind Google’s Nexus 6 — manufactured by Motorola hence the dimple has Motorola‘s logo? Well, news has come out that it should have been a tappy fingerprint sensor. But circumstances have been so that Motorola wasn’t able to include that in that final design.
Former Motorola chief executive and now Dropbox CEO Dennis Woodside revealed in a chat with UK newspaper The Telegraph that the original intent for the Nexus 6’s backside dimple was for a sophisticated fingerprint sensor that could have allowed users to unlock the device with a touch of a finger. “Apple bought the best supplier,” Woodside explained, adding that the next best alternative was not up to Motorola’s standards for the Nexus 6. “The second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry, and they weren’t there yet.”
That supplier was supposed to be AuthenTec, which Apple bought for USD$356 million back in 2012 for its own use. Evidence of the fruity company one-upping the competition can now be seen in the iPhone 5S and in the newer iPads, which feature Touch ID, where the user can unlock the device with a soft touch on the home button. But the distinct advantage of this particular sensor—and proof of why Motorola wanted it in the first place for the Nexus 6—is that it does not require your finger to be in a certain position and can be engaged at any angle, adding a ton of convenience for users.
Woodside, though, has downplayed the what-could-have-been for Motorola, saying that missing the experience of opening the Nexus 6 with a fingertip touch instead of punching a PIN or swiping it open shouldn’t be too much of a big deal. It “wouldn’t have made that big a difference,” he said, but owners of the Nexus 6 would probably—most likely—disagree. Thanks (or no thanks?) to Apple, that possibility won’t be happening soon, unless Samsung introduces a fingerprint sensor of some sort in the upcoming Galaxy S6.
VIA: The Telegraph
Android phones had already abandoned fingerprint tech years before the iPhone even got it because nobody uses it.
Funny how Motorola would be considered “copying” apple when the moto atrix was the first smartphone with a fingerprint scanner. Hmmmmm