CrucialTec, the company currently supplying fingerprint scanners to Samsung, announced on Wednesday that it has developed a new algorithm for small area-type fingerprint scanning sensors, which it is naming “Fermion”.

First up, this means that CrucialTec looks set to move away from its swipe-based BTP algorithm, which is used in the Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner and resembles older laptop designs. Instead, the company is moving over to an area based design, more akin to the technology that Apple uses in the fingerprint scanner found in the iPhone 5S. The immediate benefit being that CrucialTec’s new algorithm should be able to detect the user’s fingerprint regardless of orientation and without the need to swipe.

CrucialTec is not just moving over to a new algorithm though, the company is also planning to produce new ultra-slim embedded biometric modules, which will enable the production of a much greater variety of sensors. Thinner, oval, circle, and rectangle designs will all be possible, and they could find their way into a much greater range of devices. To top off the improvements, CrucialTec’s next generation sensors will come with improved biometric recognition and rejection rates too.

If Samsung chooses to stay with CrucialTec for its future fingerprint scanning modules, we might well see Samsung make the switch over to area-based biometrics in its next flagship smartphone.