BRIEF: How Samsung Competes With Apple as a Biometric Pioneer

There has been a lot of hype around Apple’s new Face ID facial recognition system, with discussions inevitably referring to the company’s pioneering of mobile fingerprint scanning with its Touch ID system, even if that system has now been abandoned on the iPhone X. But all the hype does something of a disservice to Samsung, which has itself become a biometric pioneer over the past year after a long period of following Apple’s lead, and could even overtake Apple in this area in the eyes of consumers.

Here’s how:

After a false start with the now-recalled Note7 smartphone, Samsung really did go some way in making mobile iris recognition go mainstream:

Samsung’s Iris Scanning Handset Wins ‘Best Smartphone’ at Asia Mobile Awards

Samsung Continues to Champion Iris Scanning with Note8 Device

And it may be poised to bring that capability further down the price spectrum of its smartphone lines and to other devices:

Biometric Changes In Store For Samsung A-Series Smartphones: Leaks

Samsung Aims to Enable IoT ‘Payment Ecosystem’ with Iris Biometrics

It also beat Apple to the punch when it comes to facial recognition, though its technology is less sophisticated than Apple’s:

Samsung Galaxy S8 Meets Multimodal Expectations

Samsung Facial Recognition Years Away from Payments Applications: Report

Finally, Samsung may succeed where Apple failed, and maybe even sooner than many think:

Samsung Galaxy S9 Enters In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Race

Early Release Could Pit Samsung Galaxy S9 Directly Against iPhone 8