Photos of a Google Pixel 2 prototype with an iris scanner have emerged
With the exception of the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, Google phones can only use a fingerprint scanner for biometric identification. Thanks it is Internal Archive To Twitter, it turned out that this was not always the case as planned, Google already tried to include an iris scanner when designing the second Pixel mobile.
In the end, nothing came of it, but the prototype clearly shows the IR LED and the front camera with an IR filter — which is in the place of the Pixel 2’s selfie camera — and there are also a few pictures of the identification software.
Iris scanner on a Pixel 2 prototype. (source: Twitter) [+]
Google introduced the Pixel 2 and 2 XL in 2017, by which time the Fujitsu Arrows NX F-04G, which debuted in Japan in 2015, was already on the market. But the Microsoft Lumia 950, Samsung Galaxy S8s and the short-lived Galaxy Note7 were also sold globally, all of which were equipped with an iris scanner.
More photos of the prototype. (source: Twitter) [+]
At the same time, this type of biometric identification has not become a trend, in the world of Android, fingerprint authentication and 2D face recognition using the front camera are the most common. This is because iris scanners built into phones required extra hardware and were slower and more unreliable than fingerprint scanners.
