Galaxy S10 Will Have 3D Facial Recognition, In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is heavily rumored to arrive with an in-display fingerprint scanner. Now a new report from Korea claims that this could be true and that the Galaxy S10 won’t have an iris scanner, but could come with an iPhone X-inspired feature.

Samsung has not requested any of its suppliers to make iris scanners for the Galaxy S10, according to The Bell. The Korean news outlet claims that the upcoming Samsung flagship phone will have an in-display fingerprint scanner and 3D facial recognition technology, which will function a lot like Apple’s Face ID on the iPhone X.

Samsung is still lagging behind Apple when it comes to 3D facial recognition. The South Korean phone maker did introduce an Animoji competitor called AR Emoji on the Galaxy S9, as pointed out by The Verge. However, Apple already has an answer to AR Emoji called Memoji, which will arrive with the iOS 12 update later this fall. Samsung’s 3D facial recognition tech is believed to be co-developed by Mantis Vision.

The Korean report says Samsung decided to remove the iris scanner because it would have given the Galaxy S10 a total of three authentication methods. Samsung sees that as being more than necessary and the company’s iris scanning technology is already two years old. The Galaxy S10 is believed to be codenamed “Beyond” and Samsung wants to introduce innovations for the 10th anniversary of the Galaxy S series. Including the iris scanner might not fit in with Samsung’s definition of innovation.

Although it’s looking very likely that Samsung will completely ditch the iris scanner with the Galaxy S10, there’s still a possibility that the company could change its plans. The reasoning here is that applying the in-display fingerprint scanner and the 3D facial recognition technology will introduce technical difficulties. If for some reason Samsung fails at including one of those two features, the company could quickly revise its strategy and just include the iris scanner. The report claims that a short-term supply for iris scanners is possible since it has already been mass produced for two years by Samsung’s suppliers.

The report also claims that Samsung originally intended to include an in-display fingerprint scanner in the Galaxy Note 9, which is expected to be announced this August. However, Samsung had to change its plans because it faced technical difficulties in implementing the technology this early.

Samsung is believed to be planning to introduce three variants of the Galaxy S10 next year, codenamed “Beyond O,” “Beyond 1” and “Beyond 2.” Beyond O will be a new entry-level model that will have a flat 5.8-inch display, while “Beyond 1” will have dual cameras. “Beyond 2” will have a larger 6.2-inch display and will be equipped with three cameras on its back. “Beyond 2” is expected to be Samsung’s top-tier model that will have an in-display fingerprint scanner.