Iris Scanning Comes to Samsung Pay

“Consumers need only to look at their phone to confirm transactions, which could make mPayments an even easier way to pay.”

With a new software update, iris-based transaction verification has arrived to the Samsung Pay mobile payment platform.

It comes by way of Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 smartphone. While it isn’t the first mobile device to sport the biometric technology—and not even Samsung’s first iris-scanning mobile device, for that matter—it’s perhaps the highest-profile iris scanning smartphone to date, and some analysts expect it could do for the biometric modality what the iPhone did for fingerprint scanning.

While the device’s launch has been mired in difficulty thanks to reports of some units exploding due to a faulty charging mechanism, its iris scanning capability, when used with mobile payments, could offer something of a wow factor as it actually comes into use in stores: Consumers need only to look at their phone to confirm transactions, which could make mPayments an even easier way to pay.

The Samsung Pay update arrives with cloud backup support ensuring that previously-loaded store and reward cards are automatically loaded when a user signs into a new device.

Sources: Wired, Android Authority, Droid Life