In the months leading up to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S5, we talked about a number of features that ultimately didn’t make the cut. Those included things like that Quad HD display that eventually landed on the GS5 LTE-A edition (and might just return for this Galaxy Alpha that’s at the center of the latest Samsung gossip), as well as some slightly more “out there” ideas like an iris scanner to authenticate users. We had some big concerns about the practicality of such a system from the first time we heard the idea, but those became a moot point when the feature failed to arrive. Could it still be in development for a future Galaxy phone, though? A new Samsung teaser has us revisiting the question, but we’re not sure just how much we should be reading into it.
Over the weekend, Samsung tweeted a message about its Eynos SoCs, focusing on security issues. The copy alluded to biometric authentication, and the corresponding image (above) sure seemed to depict an iris scanner. So does that mean that Samsung’s really going forward with this for a future handset? Maybe the Galaxy Alpha or Galaxy Note 4?
We wouldn’t hold our breath. For one, remember that Samsung is a multifaceted entity, and the left hand need not always know what the right hand is doing; just because Samsung’s Exynos team is thinking about iris scanners doesn’t mean that the phone-making crew is on the same page. Look no further than the handset depicted in this image: it’s got a hint of Apple design with that home button there, but very little evocative of Samsung’s own phones. The whole thing practically screams “non-specific stand-in phone.” None of this is to say that Samsung won’t bring an iris scanner to a phone someday, but this development here falls very short of convincing us that such plans are imminent.
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