Fingerprint sensor dropped from Note 3 in the last minute, Samsung biometrics still in play for year-end
The rumor that Galaxy Note 3 would sport a fingerprint reader might have had some legs, after all, even though it didn't materialize. The scanner has reportedly been pulled from the phone in the last minute due to component supply or some other reasons (cough, Touch ID, cough), but the story apparently doesn't end here.
Just like Samsung outed a flexible display version of the Note 3 of sorts, dubbed Galaxy Round, it might out one laden with a fingerprint sensor, Korean media indicates, later in December or in early 2014. What other novelties would that variation have to entice you before the Note 3 itself, remains to be seen, but the source claims that "If the fingerprint identification system development is on schedule, it will be completed by the end of this year." There are speculations for a rugged Note 3 Active, but somehow sealing stuff like an S Pen stylus silo and fingerprint scanner on a waterproof phone doesn't sound very easy, not to mention all the false input such a scanner would get from wet fingers, so it remains to be seen on which phone Samsung's first biometric option will appear.
The moral of the rumor is that, after Apple, HTC, Fujitsu and Pantech, Samsung might be the next manufacturer to come with fingerprint unlocking and authentication in its phones, making the trend mainstream indeed.
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