14 DAY TRIAL // One of the highlights of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, is the facial recognition feature, together with the iris scanner. While iris scanning is said to be one of the most secure biometric authentication options, the same can’t be said about facial recognition.
Recently, it was discovered that Samsung’s facial recognition feature on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ could be bypassed using a picture of the device’s owner. However, the image must be high-res and placed at the same angle and distance as when the device owner set up the feature on the phone. Still, the demonstration did prove that the two smartphones could be unlocked by someone other than the device owner.
Now, a source from Samsung stated for Korean news outlets that the company would require four to five years to perfect the facial recognition technology and make it safe to use for mobile payments.
Facial and voice recognition will become mainstream soon
Facial recognition is certainly more comfortable to use, compared to iris or fingerprint scanning technology, as it only requires users to simply look at the phone. However, the technology isn’t yet ready to be used for financial transactions, which normally require a high-level of security.
Samsung has recently said that facial recognition won’t be used for mobile payments, and iris or fingerprint scanning features should be utilized instead. Analysts believe that facial and voice recognition will replace the currently used iris and fingerprint scanning technologies in the future, once issues with security are resolved.
One of the reasons facial recognition will become mainstream is the fact that it doesn’t require dedicated hardware components, as virtually any smartphone today has a selfie camera and a microphone. By contrast, iris and fingerprint scanner need separate components which add to the total production cost of the smartphone.
It’s worth mentioning that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 is also said to feature facial recognition technology, but it will probably not be used for mobile payments either.