Samsung has been trading blows with other industry leaders, especially Apple, within the premium bracket of smartphones. If reports are to be believed, however, the South Korean conglomerate may beef up its lower-end offerings with some neat features.
A recent report from a South Korean publication purports that Samsung will equip both its mid-range and low-end handsets with fingerprint scanners. It was also purported that Samsung's mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay, will be made available to the said phones.
"Samsung is planning to deploy fingerprint sensors in budget smartphone models," Korea Herald quotes an unnamed industry source.
No other details regarding the release of the alleged fingerprint-scanner-equipped devices were revealed. However, some have noted that with the leaked information, Samsung may be looking to roll out the rumored devices early next year.
Even without any substantiating proof, this rumor makes sense. Note that Samsung has expressed its intent to expand Samsung Pay and have more people use it. What better way to do that than in developing markets, which it dominates?
Samsung was reported to have a strong grip on majority of developing markets. In Q3 of 2015, It managed to rank No. 1 in14 out of the 15 emerging markets. The list includes South-East Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Samsung handsets also managed to sell well in Egypt, Turkey, Romania and the Netherlands from July to September.
Some have questioned how the company will manage to keep the prices below $200 with an expensive component like a fingerprint scanner. It should be noted that cheaper fingerprint scanners are surfacing and prove to be decent. Several Chinese manufacturers have introduced smartphones with the said component for about $160. The Elephone P8000, which was introduced at $159.99, and the Oukitel U10, which is listed for $160, are good examples of these.
