New rumors say Samsung to ditch iris recognition and embed a fingerprint sensor in Galaxy S5

Samsung’s biometric intentions have been incredibly hard to predict and there are new reports to suggest the company will scrap its plans for iris recognition and the Galaxy S5 device will likely include a fingerprint sensor.

Before this article explores these rumors any further, it needs to be mentioned that these are all unconfirmed and uncorroborated, citing unnamed “industry sources.” Samsung and its suppliers are extremely tight-lipped about the South Korean giant’s plans for development.

Reported in the Korea Herald, an unnamed source told the paper that Samsung is looking to place a fingerprint sensor beneath the S5 device display. As for why iris recognition could have been scrapped, usability and camera sensitivity have been mentioned as reasons.

Reported previously, last year, reports came out of Korea which suggested Samsung was going to shelve its “plans” for a Galaxy fingerprint sensor due to a low production yield of sensor chips.  

That being said, some mysterious images were uncovered in Samsung GS3 firmware files which looked like a graphical presentation of a vague fingerprint security system. The phone has since launched without a fingerprint system.

A little while later, the USPTO published Samsung’s patent application for a fingerprint sensor integration, seemingly confirming a biometric system.

Samsung was also the subject of a peculiar story in 2013 when a press release was published alleging that Samsung had acquired Fingerprint Cards for $650 million. Both companies have confirmed that the announcement was fake, and the origin and intent of the bogus release is still being investigated, though there are signs that it could be related to an earlier Adobe hack.

Interestingly, Fingerprint Cards expanded into South Korea and Taiwan last year, following sharp increases in demand for its embedded fingerprint sensor technology.

Article Topics

fingerprint  |  iris recognition  |  leak  |  rumor  |  Samsung