Samsung Galaxy S5 coming in April?

Samsung Electronics Co. will release its Galaxy S5 smartphone by April and is planning to equip it with eye scanner technology.

The S5 will be paired with a new wearable device that will be an evolution of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Bloomberg cited Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of the company’s mobile business, as saying in a January 6 interview.

We’ve been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time, Lee said and added that after they released their S5 device, people can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions and improved bulky design.

Samsung, which sells one of every three smartphones globally, is adding new features and models to fend off Apple in the high-end market and Chinese makers luring budget customers with handsets for $100.

Asia’s biggest technology company will announce at least one other wearable device this year, Lee said without elaborating.

Sales of the S4 slowed after Apple released the iPhone 5s and 5c in September.

The 5s includes a fingerprint-identity sensor, and Samsung is considering using an eye scanner in its top-end smartphones.

Many people are fanatical about iris recognition technology, Lee said at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

We are studying the possibility but can’t really say whether we will have it or not on the S5, he added.