Credit: Samsung/LetsGoDigital
If our phones get any smarter, we’re gonna have a singularity.
With the recent release of the iPhone 11 and its fancy three-lens camera, folks have been wondering how Samsung’s Galaxy line will respond. If the rumor mill is to be believed, it’s with space-age analysis tech.
A Dutch tech blog, LetsGoDigital, recently unearthed a Samsung patent detailing a new phone with an infrared spectrometer on the back. What does a spectrometer do? It bounces EM waves off of objects and interprets the signals it receives back. All sorts of data can be gleaned from this process such as chemical levels and recurring sounds.
In a practical application, a smartphone with a spectrometer could read the sugar levels of fruit, check someone’s heart rate and blood glucose levels, and detect smoke, just to name a few ideas. This could even provide the next evolution of Face ID, since it’d be able to detect the contours and specifics of a face below the skin.
Of course, this is only a rumor. The patent in question was filed back in March, and the S11 probably won’t even be announced for another five months, to say nothing of a release. Still, if a Samsung phone were to incorporate this technology, it could be a game-changer. If nothing else, iPhones sure can’t read someone’s biometrics from a glance. Not yet, anyway.
