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Galaxy Note 7 Iris Scanner Explained (androidauthority.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Android Authority: The Galaxy Note 7 was just announced and one of the most intriguing features is its iris scanner. Android Authority has a report explaining how it works: "According to the company, the device stores your registered iris information as an encrypted code safely in its hardware using its KNOX security platform. Whenever you want to access content, such as a protected app, the device first captures your iris pattern for recognition, extracts and digitizes it, and then proceeds to match it with the encrypted code to provide access. You can be sure that no one else apart from you can access your device in case it is stolen or lost because the Note 7 registers the iris information of only one person. Samsung has made all this possible by including a dedicated iris camera for recognizing the composition of the user's eyeballs. The dedicated iris camera uses a special image filter to receive and recognize the reflected images of the irises through an infrared light on the other end of that panel. The light emitted from the Galaxy Note 7's display allows the scanner to receive data even in low light environments." The iris scanner can be used to access private information via Samsung's Secure Folder feature. Samsung also plans to partner with major financial institutions to incorporate its iris scanner into mobile banking applications.
Samsung's copying others now, Microsoft put it in the Lumia 950/XL almost a year ago, and ZTE's Grand S3 had about 18 months ago.
With the fingerprint scanner, you can add multiple fingerprints. This can be useful for reading the same finger in a different orientation, recording fingerprints from both thumbs, or letting multiple people unlock the same phone. There's no technical reason that they couldn't do the same with the iris scanner.
In my case, I like to let my wife unlock my phone so that she can handle it if someone texts me while I'm driving (or other similar situations). I'm sure lots of other people have legitimate reasons for wanting to have multiple people easily unlock the same phone.