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Galaxy S9 Planning a More Secure Iris Scanner

Reportedly Samsung is on target to expand the iris scanner  to its budget phones by late 2018 or early 2019.
Reportedly Samsung is on target to expand the iris scanner  to its budget phones by late 2018 or early 2019.

Samsung will reportedly bring several upgrades to the iris scanner on its next Galaxy S phone, presumably called the Galaxy S9.

Some of these possible changes include a shorter response time, better recognition in dark or bright environments or when the user is wearing glasses, and a slightly higher resolution, 3-megapixel lens (up from 2MP in the Galaxy S8), CNet reported.

More secure biometric authentication -- like fingerprint sensing, iris scanning and facial recognition -- is always a good thing, but the update may seem especially necessary after hackers were able to fool the iris scanner on the Galaxy S8 using a photo and contact lenses. After the hack Samsung was quick to defend the security of its iris-scanning tech, but an improved scanner may help those concerned rest more easily.

Currently, fingerprint and iris scanning are the only biometric methods Samsung deems secure enough to use as authentication for Samsung. According to the report, Samsung is working to get more mobile banking apps to be compatible with the iris scanner as an authentication method.

A Samsung spokesperson told The Korea Herald that an “Iris scanner is the safest biometric authentication (among iris, fingerprint and face recognition) and we will continue to improve the system for upcoming smartphones for safer banking transactions,” but did not reveal any specific plans for the Galaxy S9.

The source also claimed that Samsung is on target to expand the iris scanner to its budget phones by late 2018 or early 2019. Right now the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 are the only Samsung phones with iris scanning -- excluding the recalled Note 7.

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