Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 Iris Scanner lets you pay with your eyes

Samsung just revealed what may be the next step in biometrics. 

The company's Galaxy Note 7, announced at a press event Tuesday, will allow you to complete mobile payments using the phone's built-in iris scanner. In other words: you'll be able to buy things with your eyes. 

The handset's iris scanner will work similarly to current smartphones' fingerprint sensors: after you make a purchase with your phone (via Samsung Pay), you can choose to authenticate with either the fingerprint sensor or the iris scanner. 

It may sound more like something out of science fiction than a feature you would actually want to use but those who are particularly security conscious may want to consider it. Samsung tells us that each device can only be programmed to recognize one set of eyes and that it's impossible to "trick" the device with a photo.

IMAGE: JONNY LIN/MASHABLE

Eventually, you'll also be able to use the Note's iris scanner to make in-app purchases with Samsung Pass, which allows third-party developers and banking institutions to take advantage of the company's eye scanning technology.  

Perhaps more importantly though, the new iris scanning could give more users a reason to start using Samsung Pay, the Korean company's answer to Apple Pay and Android Pay. Unlike Google and Apple's mobile payments platforms, Samsung Pay doesn't rely on Near Field Communication (NFC) chips to make payments so you can use the technology at more in-store locations. 

Whether or not people will feel comfortable scanning their eyeballs at checkout is another matter. Mashable's Raymond Wong tried out the Note 7's iris scanning on a pre-production phone and found it more clunky than using fingerprints alone. But that could very well change by the time the phone ships to the public. 

Samsung Pass replaces usernames and passwords with the Galaxy Note 7 iris scanner

Six major banks have partnered with Samsung to improve banking security measures with the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Senior Vice President Justin Denison announced at Samsung Unpacked on Tuesday. Even cooler, it involves eye scanners. 

After growing concerns that fingerprint scanners may not be so secure, after having been hacked with a printer, the Note 7's iris scanner feature promises added security to third-party apps through Samsung Pass. 

Samsung Pass will act as a password manager of sorts and will let users lock access to apps, folders and documents with their eyes. Samsung is also working with six banks — more to come —to protect access to your bank with the iris scanner. Currently it is available with Bank of America, Citi, US Bank, KEB Hana, Shinhan and Woori. 

Fingerprint scanners aren't necessarily going away, and you can still use them for now. But the iris scanner may well take over as the preferred security measure across Samsung Pay, Knox and any personal files in the Note 7's Secure folder (which Denison announced can also be made invisible to others). 

You can visually preview some of these new features, courtesy of Mashable's Lance Ulanoff below: 

There is no word on when Samsung Pass will be available, but we hope to see it in the next few weeks.