Samsung Galaxy A6 Comes Stateside with Fingerprint and Face Biometrics

Samsung has brought its mid-tier Galaxy A6 smartphone to the US market.

The device was first announced in May. In promoting it, Samsung has emphasized the A6’s 16MP front and rear cameras, with the latter featuring an F1.7 aperture. The company has also highlighted the A6’s large screen, which extends across almost the entire front face of the device, and offers a 18.5:9 aspect ratio.

That echoes the design of Samsung’s flagship smartphones; and as with the Galaxy S8 and S9, Samsung has made room for the A6’s large screen by putting its fingerprint sensor on the rear of the device, right under the camera – an unfortunate move, given S8 users’ complaints that scanning their fingerprints often led to smudges on their camera lenses.

That issue is eased somewhat by the devices’ use of facial recognition for unlocking. Notably, the A6 doesn’t feature iris scanning, which Samsung has been championing in its most recent flagship devices; but its support for facial recognition suggests that Samsung is trying to keep up with Apple and other rivals as they lean more toward that modality for user authentication.

The Galaxy A6 arrives stateside at an MSRP of $359.99, and along with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A 10.5″ tablet, which is priced at $329.99.