Samsung to make devices with iris recognition in partnership with SRI

You may have thought fingerprint sensors embedded in smartphones were a novel idea, but it looks as though Samsung is working towards upping its biometric security in the near future. SRI International (Stanford Research Institute) has just announced the exclusive licensing of its Iris on the Move (IOM) technology to Samsung for use in mobile devices. Iris on the Move encompasses a number of technologies built by SRI that, unlike normal biometric readers that make the user position their eyes for a few moments, allow the user to simply “glance and go”.

SRI and Samsung are partnering up to start the production and sales of mobile devices with the new technology for B2B applications. The first product from Samsung with the new iris recognition technology will be a customized Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 tablet that will be introduced in the SIA New Product Showcase at ISC West 2015.

SRI elaborates on the new Galaxy Tab:

This new model will provide fast, easy-to-use, and accurate biometric identity management solutions to its users. Tests have shown this purely iris-based solution to be more than 1,000 times more accurate than published fingerprint data.

SRI says that Iris on the Move is normally suited for use in airports, access control and workforce management, though the research institute says that it’s looking for early adopters for other types of products.

You may not have heard of SRI International in the past, but you’ve definitely caught wind of its most well-known creation. Back in December 2007, SRI created a spin-off company called Siri, Inc. Apple acquired the spin-off in April 2010 and used it to launch the Siri personal voice assistant in 2011.

Samsung incorporating iris recognition technologies into their mobile devices should come at no surprise. Soon after Samsung’s fingerprint scanning tech made its way to the Galaxy S5, the company’s Senior Vice President Injong Rhee explained:

We’re looking at various types of biometric [mechanisms] and one of things that everybody is looking at is iris detection.

If IOM proves itself worthy in the customized Galaxy Tab, we’ll definitely begin to see more iris recognition technologies come to additional Samsung devices in the future. And while the press release doesn’t mention it specifically, if the new Galaxy Tab eventually makes its way to consumers, we’d imagine it would only be available in select markets.