Preorders Begin Wednesday for Samsung Note7 With Iris Scanning, HDR

Samsung launched the Galaxy Note7 Tuesday, touting the smartphone’s iris-scanning biometric authentication, 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass 5 and high-dynamic-range playback of streamed content. The phone and stylus are IP68-rated and can withstand immersion in 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes, said the company. The iris scanner will be available for Samsung Pay mobile payments in the future, said Samsung. The phone’s 12-megapixel camera, the same dual-pixel sensor technology used in the Galaxy S7, produces sharp photos in low light, it said. Features include 64 GB memory, expandable storage up to 256 GB via microSD, a 3,500mAh battery with power management, USB-C port and wireless charging compatible with Wireless Power Consortium and Power Matters Alliance standards. Available colors: blue, silver and black onyx. Preorders begin Wednesday with availability Aug. 19. Samsung’s news release didn’t provide pricing, but a T-Mobile news release Tuesday gave a full retail price of $849. T-Mobile will sell the Note7 for $69 down and $32.50 for 24 months, it said. In a research email Tuesday, IHS said the Note7 demonstrates Samsung's desire to be a “technology leader in smartphones” and will act as a premium showcase to boost Samsung margins, define Samsung’s strategy and increase brand appeal. The “halo effect” of the Note7 will grow sales of less expensive Samsung phones, it said. The expansion of the edge screen is important for Samsung’s relationship with developers, extending the reach beyond S6 and S7 devices and making a case for developer support of its user interface platforms as a differentiator as Samsung continues to evolve and enhance the user interface of its devices, said IHS. Samsung is also introducing more use cases for the S Pen, offering Google Translate, for instance, while hovering over text. Samsung needs to keep improving existing features while layering new ones on top to differentiate the latest S Pen generation from those on previous devices, IHS said.