Long before the new phablet was officially announced, the internet was abuzz with rumors that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will come with a fingerprint scanner. When the phablet was unveiled last month, it become clear that all those rumors weren’t true. Samsung didn’t even mention a fingerprint scanner or hint at the possibility of upcoming devices having it. A new report from Korea’s ETNews claims that Samsung did have plans to put a fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy Note 3, but that particular feature didn’t make the cut because apparently it didn’t pass the quality assurance tests.
The primary function of the sensor would obviously have been easy locking and unlocking of the device, Apple allows users to also make payments on iTunes through Touch ID, the fingerprint scanner it has put into the iPhone 5s. It isn’t exactly clear why the Galaxy Note 3 with fingerprint reading ability didn’t pass quality assurance tests, the report suggests that Samsung had some trouble getting the size of the scanner right. It also suggests that Samsung hasn’t given up on this technology and that we actually might see a Galaxy Note 3 variant which brings the feature. No word as yet on when such a variant will be released though. The next highly anticipated device with a rumored fingerprint sensor is the HTC One Max, which is likely to be unveiled next week.
Filed in . Read more about Galaxy Note 3, HTC One Max, iPhone 5S and Touch Id.