You can thank Apple for the lack of a fingerprint scanner on the Nexus 6
Nexus 6 owners who lust after a fingerprint scanner will be peeved to hear this news. According to ex-Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, Motorola had been planning to use fingerprint scanners in many of their high-end smartphones going forward, including the Nexus 6.
Woodside revealed to Telegraph that following Motorola’s launch of the Atrix 4G back in 2011 (the first Android phone with a built-in fingerprint scanner), Apple acquired Authentec, the company Motorola was working with. Authentec wasn’t the only company making fingerprint scanners, but they were the best and Motorola wasn’t willing to settle for anything less. Woodside on the Nexus 6:
The secret behind that is that it was supposed to be fingerprint recognition, and Apple bought the best supplier. So the second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry and they weren’t there yet.
And there you have it, folks — the Nexus 6 was supposed to have a fingerprint scanner, but Apple’s antics ruined it all.
Even more interesting about the whole ordeal, though, is Motorola’s decision to shun the inferior technology, and if the Samsung Galaxy S5’s shoddy fingerprint scanner is anything to go by they absolutely made the right choice (even Samsung would likely agree). Let’s hope Motorola can get their hands on whatever Huawei was able to cook up for the next go-round.