Samsung Galaxy S8 has been under the rumor radar for quite a long time now, so much so that, we feel there’s hardly anything left we do not know about the flagship smartphone. Well, that may be an entirely foolhardy belief. Just a week back we were pleasantly surprise to encounter a news suggesting Galaxy S8 to come with a face scanner in addition to the already known rear mounted fingerprint scanner and front iris scanner. This time we are taken aback ( in a positive sense) by another report hinting at the use of the face scanner feature on Galaxy S8 for mobile payment services.

Well, if that really happens, the Korean giant will definitely get the much needed edge over other 2017 flagship devices (LG are you listening?). It will also set the S8 apart in terms of being a pioneer in engineering a cutting-edge tech which addresses a key concern of mobile users which is security in conducting financial transactions via smartphones.

As per Bloomberg’s sources, Samsung will blend in fingerprint, iris and facial scanner in Galaxy S8 ‘to verify users accessing mobile services including Samsung Pay’. This tech, however, will not be released with the launch of S8 on March 29th but will make its way ‘within months of release’ of the device.

Read: Galaxy S8 release / Galaxy S8 key features

The Bloomberg report adds that the iris recognition scanner and the face recognition scanner are designed to complement each other so that iris recognition is used when there is not enough ambient light and the face recognition scanner operates when the light amount is sufficient. Samsung is already cooperating with banks to incorporate the authentication system through facial recognition in the near future.

Although Galaxy Note 7 allows you to unlock your smartphone using face recognition, the Galaxy S8 is expected to be the first device to enable financial settlement and electronic payment services.

Read: Galaxy S7 Nougat update / Samsung Nougat update

The Note 7 fiasco cost Samsung dearly forcing it to shut down the production of the device and retrieve the defective ones. This might have cost it more than $6 billion in terms of finances, but in terms of image damage the price it paid was insurmountable. It lost the base trust and support giving leverage to other upcoming Chinese OEMs such as Oppo and Huawei.

Thus, in a bid to rise above the rest, including its arch rival Apple, Samsung has been searching for the key differentiating feature which could set its premium products apart and on the top. Will the face scanner on Galaxy S8, with its new utility to authenticate a payment, will turn out to be the key which will unlock Samsung’s fortunes once again? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Read: Confirmed: Galaxy S8 will release on April 21st, pre-orders will begin from April 7th

via Bloomberg