Two South Korean banks are already preparing to take advantage of the iris scanning capability of Samsung’s latest flagship mobile device. KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank have announced that they will allow customers to access mobile accounts via the Galaxy Note7’s iris scanning feature.

Many banks already support mobile biometric authentication via fingerprint scan, so the move to iris-based authentication isn’t such a leap. But the opportunity arises now with Samsung’s big push behind the biometric modality; the Note7 is one of only a few big-name smartphones to offer such technology.

It won’t be the last. Apple is rumored to be exploring iris recognition technology for a future iPhone, and the company’s leadership won’t want to be perceived as falling behind long-term rival Samsung in terms of technological sophistication. And given the rapid spread of fingerprint scanning on smartphones after the technology was embraced by Apple and Samsung, it seems fair to expect a similar trend for iris scanning.

KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank are aiming to have their iris authentication capabilities ready for the Korean launch of the Note7 in the middle of this month, and Yonhap News Agency reports that Shinhan Bank is also considering supporting the system.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)