The next flagship smartphone or tablet from Samsung Electronics could feature an iris scanner. While the Korean company itself is still busy marketing its Galaxy Gear smartwatch around the globe and would not confirm future plans, it has applied for a patent that could bring a new way of authentication in Samsung devices.

In what could be an answer to Apple's fingerprint sensors in the iPhone 5s, a patent filing by Samsung with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published earlier this month writes:

"The iris has unique patterns whose number is larger than that of the fingerprint.. and ..is being evaluated as a biometric identification technology more advanced than a fingerprint or retina scanning technology."

The document says the technology may be embodied in many different forms including a computer, a tablet computer and a mobile device.

The patent ws filed May 6, 2013 but appeared on the USPTO web site earlier this month.

Linking human eyes with smartphone usage is not new for Sasmsug, as recent Galaxy smartphones come with software features that recognize a person?s eyes for adjusting the brightness of a phone screen or even for scrolling up and down a web page.