LG G7 rumored to come with an advanced iris scanner

Up until now LG hasn't followed Samsung's lead by including an iris scanner in its phones - both the LG G6 and LG V30 were fingerprint-only - but a newly unearthed patent submitted by LG suggests that could change in 2018 with the arrival of the LG G7.

The patent, as spotted by LetsGoDigital, is for biometric authentication through an iris scanner as normal, but the filing mentions a few extra tricks. The sensor will adjust its reading based on ambient light, for a start, to allow for variations in pupil size and to make sure you can always use the scanner no matter what the lighting conditions.

On top of that the LG G7 may ask you to follow a series of dots with your eyes, ensuring the scanner can't be fooled with a photograph and making it much harder for someone else to break into your phone and run riot through your Facebook account.

The eyes have it

All of which makes sense if LG wants to unveil something that's an upgrade on the iris scanners we've all got used to in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8. The thinking is that LG might build the scanner into the forward-facing camera to cut down on costs.

There's no real doubt that LG is indeed working on an iris scanner, and in fact rumors about its inclusion stretch all the way back to the LG G5.

The only question is when we're eventually going to see it, and with other manufacturers rapidly improving on their biometric systems, it seems very much like it's going to be 2018 or never.

It's still relatively early days for the LG G7 rumor mill but we've already heard that it might make the switch to OLED panels for its own phones and will fit the recently unveiled Snapdragon 845 chip inside to keep everything running smoothly. There are also whispers that the phone could even get previewed at CES 2018 in January.