According to a study conducted by Juniper Research, innovation in mobile phone hardware and software has helped to drive handset interaction, including touchless command and biometric identification. While human interface technology will not abandon touch commands entirely, touchless and biometric interfaces will continue to play an increasing role in enhancing user experience and handset security.

The research also shows that software will play a larger role in driving innovation in the touchless and biometric space, highlighting for example the many ways in which handset functionality is being improved through application software and hardware that accesses sensors functionality in cameras, microphones and biometric scanners. As a result, cameras are now able to detect face and eye movements, microphones allow voice activated commands and touch screens can detect biometric identifiers such as ear, palm and vein prints.

Findings indicate that more than 16 million human interface applications will be downloaded in 2014, which is projected to grow significantly by 2019. Also, other opportunities are to emerge in sensor fusion in which application software and hardware will combine sensor capabilities for multimodal methods of interaction.