Patent application hints that the Moto Z (2017) will sport an iris scanner

A new patent application filed by Motorola suggests that it will be including an iris scanner in an upcoming handset. This phone could be the Moto Z (2017) device that was recently spotted on Geekbench, powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset. This device also carried 4GB of RAM and was equipped with Android 7.1.1 inside. According to the patent filing, Motorola's iris scanner will employ a pair of narrow-angle lenses to focus on the user's eyes.

The iris scanner can basically do the same things that the fingerprint scanner can do except that it reads the unique characteristics of the user's iris to unlock the pho ne, verify identification and open apps. We should point out that the sketches in the patent show that the Moto Z (2017) will continue to sport a dedicated front-facing fingerprint button (as opposed to a home button with the fingerprint scanner embedded inside).

The next version of the Moto Z is also expected to keep the compatibility with the modular Moto Mods accessories. Considering that the current Moto Z line was unveiled last June, we still have a few months ahead of us before the Moto Z (2017) series sees the light of day.