With the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Samsung introduced an iris scanner to the phone. With most phones sporting fingerprint sensors, it was an interesting move. However according to a report from The Investor in Korea (via SamMobile), it seems that Samsung could be moving beyond iris scanning and into facial recognition.
The report apparently quotes a Samsung official as telling them, “Due to some limits of iris scanning such as speed and accuracy, we have decided to add facial recognition to the Galaxy S8. With a face scanner, it will take less than 0.01 seconds to unlock the phone.” Call us skeptical but given how Samsung is said to be taking extra safety measures to prevent leaks, we doubt officials would be talking about the phone’s features so brazenly.
That being said, it is interesting that they are talking about facial recognition because if you might recall, Apple is also rumored to be employing a facial recognition system for the upcoming iPhone 8, so we’re not sure if this rumor is purely coincidence or if we’re looking at another “me too” situation.
In the past it has been said that the Galaxy S8 will be maintaining the same iris scanning system as the Note 7, so it is odd that Samsung would suddenly make the switch to facial. In any case take it with a grain of salt, but with an announcement confirmed for the 29th of March, we should have the official details soon.
