Samsung will be first to deliver big feature Apple couldn’t

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Galaxy Note 7 USB-C
Samsung's next Galaxy Note will have a fingerprint-scanning display.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Samsung will beat Apple to delivering a revolutionary new smartphone display, according to one reliable analyst.

The South Korean company’s next Galaxy Note will have a fingerprint-scanning screen, which Apple had to drop from iPhone X because it couldn’t be perfected in time for launch.

Apple says that Face ID is the future of biometric security and vastly more secure than Touch ID. But no one believes that the company wanted to eliminate fingerprint scanning entirely for iPhone X.

For months prior to its unveiling, Apple was rumored to be developing a new display with Touch ID baked-in. It would have allowed us to unlock the iPhone X by placing a finger anywhere on the screen, but the technology simply wasn’t ready.

Apple had to give up on it eventually to prevent further iPhone X delays, so Touch ID was eliminated and Face ID became the sole biometric security solution. We’ll have to wait for iPhone X’s launch on November 3 to find out if that was a good idea.

If it’s successful, Apple could put the final nail in Touch ID’s coffin. But for now, you can be sure that it is still working on fingerprint-scanning screens as a backup, should Face ID be a flop.

Apple won’t be the first to deliver that technology, however. According to reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Samsung is finalizing plans to make it available in next year’s Galaxy Note 9, which is likely to arrive in late August.

“Korean companies BeyondEyes and the Samsung subsidiary Samsung LSI have already shipped part samples to Samsung,” reports Business Insider, which obtained Kuo’s research note. “They’re the favorites to win the contract.”

Samsung already offers facial recognition in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, but it’s nowhere near as advanced as Face ID. It’s unreliable, and can be easily fooled. What’s more, Kuo says it will take 18-30 months for Samsung and other Android makers to catch up.

It looks like Samsung will be using fingerprint-scanning screens as a stop-gap, but Kuo predicts that all smartphone makers are planning to match Face ID in the future.

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