South Korean electronics giant, Samsung recently announced its latest addition to its “Galaxy Note” lineup, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The latest smartphone from the company happened to come with many firsts, including being the first smartphone to be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on its display and on its back, it is also the first in the “Galaxy Note” lineup to feature a waterproof S-Pen which also can’t be accidentally inserted the wrong way anymore. However, one of the main highlights of the Galaxy Note 7 was the inclusion of an iris scanner on the front of the device, which provided extra security and an alternate way for users to unlock the device. Samsung mentioned that it didn’t just include an iris scanner just to provide an alternate way for users to unlock their device, but that it had the potential to be used to make secured payments and more. Well, it seems like Samsung has stayed true to its word as a report has emerged that the iris scanner will be used for mobile banking based on iris recognition.
BusinessKorea has revealed that credit card companies in South Korea will begin using Samsung Pay with iris recognition around the end of August. This comes after South Korean banks launched support for mobile banking based on iris recognition. Among the South Korean banks which have joined in support of the more secured way of mobile banking are Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and KEB Hana Bank. As for credit card companies, Shinhan Card has already completed technical preparations in order to support the service, while Hyundai Card and KB Kookmin Card will be joining the service soon. The most active credit card company in the development of this service happens to be a sister company of Samsung Electronics which is Samsung Card. The credit company will be ready to provide iris recognition service of Samsung Pay by the end of the month.
The Galaxy Note 7 is slotted to be released in South Korea later this month and carriers have already started taking pre-orders for the device. Once it is launched, South Korean users will be able to do mobile banking based on iris recognition which is expected to be more secured than the conventional fingerprint scanner. In a bid to unlock the full potential of iris recognition, Samsung plans to release iris scanner software to third-party developers which will allow them to include their integration and provide a much greater and wider level of support for iris recognition.