The most interesting thing about Samsung’s next flagship phone could be how you unlock it.
Taking a page from the fingerprint reader-equipped iPhone 5S, Samsung is considering adding an eye scanner to the Galaxy S5. While the decision is far from final, adding the feature makes a lot of sense: The iPhone 5S’s fingerprint scanner makes the device feel like it was ripped from the future, and Samsung would be smart to give its own flagship that same sense. At least if it wants to stay competitive.
Samsung also plans to significantly tweak the Galaxy S5’s design, particularly its display and cover, in an effort to make it look very different from the S4.
Regardless of what its hardware looks like, the Galaxy S5 should arrive by March or April, keeping it in line with previous Galaxy releases. (The S4 was announced last March and released a month later.)
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Alongside updates to the Galaxy S line, Samsung could also announce an update to its Galaxy Gear, which Samsung mobile head Lee Young Hee tells Bloomberg will be less bulky than its predecessor.
All of this comes ahead of what is set to be a comparatively rough year for Samsung, which right now makes one in every three smartphones sold around the world. On Tuesday the company announced its first profit decline since 2011, a sign that competition from both Apple (on the high-end) and Chinese smartphone companies (on the low-end) are starting to do some real damage.
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