Biometric smartphones are expected to become mainstream this year as leading handset makers follow the lead of Apple into fingerprint recognition technology.

Based on annual interviews with more than 100,000 individuals in more than 40 countries and 15 megacities, the Ericsson consumer report has found that 52 percent of smartphone users want to use their fingerprints instead of passwords and 48 percent are interesting in using eye-recognition to unlock their smart devices.  “A total of 74 percent believe that biometric smartphones will become mainstream during 2014,” the report notes.