Excitement is building for Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 device in its home country of South Korea. Officially unveiled at launch events around the world last Tuesday, the device has already garnered over 200,000 preorders.

As The Korea Herald reports, that’s double the preorders that came in for Galaxy S7 smartphones launched earlier this year. That could be due in part to Samsung’s special offer of a free Gear Fit 2 wearable device for Note7 purchases, as well as a 100,000-won gift card for Samsung Pay mall locations.

But the device’s iris scanning functionality may also play a significant role in drumming up excitement, given the novelty of the biometric modality, and its ease of use. Organizations in the domestic financial services industry are certainly excited about it, with two major banks already committing to supporting iris-based login for their mobile apps. And Samsung has announced that it will be available for use with Samsung Pay as an authentication mechanism, making the mPayment platform even easier to use; and has made iris scanning a central component of its security pitch for the Note7 more generally.

The Galaxy Note7 will be launched globally on August 19th, with Samsung aiming to give it a head start in the mass market before the next iPhone arrives.

Source: The Korea Herald