Samsung might be gearing up to solve one of the longest-running complaints Android users have had about biometrics on their phones. Samsung, may soon have its own version of Apple’s Face ID
According to a reputed tipster on X, early firmware traces linked to the Galaxy S27 Ultra suggest the company is testing a new biometric system called Polar ID v1.0. If this leak turns out to be accurate, we may see a major change in how Samsung handles facial biometrics. Instead of the selfie-camera-based facial recognition we see today, we may have something resembling Apple’s Face ID on an Android.
What the leaks suggest
According to the leak, the firmware for the Galaxy S27 Ultra mentions something called Polar ID v1.0 running alongside a BIO-Fusion Core, which likely acts as a secure processing enclave for biometric data.
In short, it refers to Samsung’s take on Apple’s Face ID.
The new system may work with Samsung’s ISOCELL Vizion sensor stack paired with polarized-light capture instead of Apple’s infrared dot-projector approach.
Reportedly, the unlock speed could sit around 180ms, and the big improvement would be reliability: better performance with sunglasses, masks, or low light, which are common weak spots for current face unlock systems.
Why this matters
Biometric security has become a key differentiator in premium phones, and Apple’s Face ID still has the edge because of its depth-based authentication that uses TrueDepth sensors and 3D Mapping.
Samsung’s existing face unlock is fast, but it’s not trusted by any application that takes security very seriously, namely banking or payment apps. That is so because it’s relatively easier to spoof.
If Polar ID turns out to be a more secure, depth-aware method, it would be Samsung’s first genuinely competitive answer to Face ID.
It could finally make face unlock the primary method again, instead of something people only use for convenience.
What about the Galaxy S26 lineup?
The Galaxy S27 Ultra is still far away, so this shouldn’t affect any immediate buying decisions. Samsung is currently gearing up for the Galaxy S26 lineup next, and early reports suggest fewer big leaps there, including camera hardware that feels more like a refinement than a redesign.
If that holds true, some users might eventually choose to skip the S26 and wait another cycle for the bigger biometric upgrade.
For now, it’s just early code and leak chatter. But if Polar ID is real and works reliably in everyday situations, Samsung could be setting up its first serious move to match Apple in a space where it has historically lagged.
