Corroborating several earlier reports to come out of South Korea, a new report from Bloomberg says the Galaxy S8 will include facial recognition technology.
Citing the usual “people familiar with the matter,” the publication reports the S8 will also include fingerprint and iris recognition technology. Should users register their face with the device, the S8 will prefer to authenticate them this way over using its iris scanner; Samsung’s facial scanning technology is said to be able to unlock a device faster than the company’s iris equivalent and is also more accurate. In situations where ambient light is limited, the smartphone will default to iris authentication.
Besides offering smartphone users a new way to unlock their phone, Samsung plans to allow S8 users to use their face as a means of authenticating mobile payments through Samsung Pay. Bloomberg reports this functionality will arrive “within months” of the S8’s release, and notes that the company is working with banks across the globe to sell them on the idea of a facial recognition. Currently, no mobile devices use facial recognition as a means to authenticate mobile payments.
CIBC is currently the only major Canadian bank that supports the mobile payments platform.
Samsung is scheduled to announce the S8 at an event in New York City on March 29th.
Source:Bloomberg
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