Samsung Galaxy Note 6/7 might pack iris scanner

A rumor in April suggested that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 6/Note 7 will feature an iris scanner. Now a leaked screenshot is backing up this rumor.

The screenshot of a beta firmware from Samsung's Galaxy Beta Program shows a settings page with three options for authentication  – fingerprint, PIN and the last one is iris scanner. It is not known how Samsung plans to use the iris scanner to authenticate purchases and unlock the device.

Samsung has already used iris scanner in the recently relesed Galaxy Tab Iris in India. If the leaked screenshot is true, Galaxy Note6/7 will be the company's second device to use this tech. Adding more evidence is a recent Zauba listing that shows 200 units of iris scanner being imported to India from South Korea by Samsung. But it is not clear, if the iris scanners are for the tablet or for testing on Galaxy Note6/7.

Another leak has debunked earlier rumors of Galaxy Note 6/Note7 running Android N. A user agent profile shows the phone running Android Marshmallow.

Samsung will reportedly be skipping the Galaxy Note 6 in favor of Galaxy Note 7. As per reports the rebranding is an effort to make the numbering of Galaxy Note series in line with the current Galaxy S series, the Galaxy S7, S7 edge and S7 Active.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 6/7 is expedted to come with 5.8-inch QHD curved display, 6GB RAM, Snapdragon 823 SoC, 12MP-megapixel Dual Pixel camera, USB Type-C port, 4000mAh battery, waterproof design and microSD card slot.

As always it's too early to believe the rumors, so take it with a grain of salt. Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy Note6/7 in August.