Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, Asus, has announced that the future Zenfone 3 will come equipped with a fingerprint reader of its own and the company could also incorporate the feature when it provides a facelift to the Zenfone 2 later this year.

The trend of fingerprint scanners in smartphones became popular after Apple introduced the feature in the iPhone 5S. Since then, handset manufacturers have been trying to bring out smartphones with fingerprint scanners, such as the new Samsung Galaxy S6 featuring a touch sensor as against the swipe sensor in the earlier Galaxy S5.

Asus had unveiled the Zenfone 2 at the CES (Consumers Electronics Show) in January this year. The ZenFone 2 series has several variants with display size ranging between 5-inch and 5.5-inch and 2GB to 4GB RAM. The Zenfone 2 is currently available in a few countries and Asus fans are eagerly awaiting its release in other parts of the world, with the 5.5" 1080p and 4 GB RAM model being the most sought after variant.

According to the latest media reports, Asus CEO, Jerry Shen has stated that the ZenFone 3 would feature a fingerprint sensor, but did not provide any other details about the upcoming device. Shen also assured Asus fans that they would not have to wait until the launch of the ZenFone 3 to experience the fingerprint recognition technology, as the company was planning to introduce a refreshed ZenFone 2 with a fingerprint sensor in the second half of 2015.

The launch of the ZenFone 3 is still a long way off and it could be another year until the device is released. However, the announcement by Asus clearly indicates that more devices will be shipped with fingerprint sensors in the days ahead, as consumers want the latest fingerprint recognition technology to be included in their Android smartphones and tablets.