Did Samsung Acknowledge Galaxy S8, Note 8 Fingerprint Reader Placement Mistake?

During its pre-MWC 2018 launch event for the Galaxy S9 and S9+, Samsung briefly talked about the placement of the fingerprint sensors on the new flagship devices. However, the South Korea giant did not vocally acknowledge the erroneous location of the fingerprint readers on last year’s Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 handsets.

According to SamMobile, Samsung indicated that the placement of the fingerprint sensors on the S9 and S9+ is more logical than before. Surprisingly, the company made it seem like it actually needed consumer feedback to realize the mistake it made on the 2017 flagship devices.

When Samsung introduced the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in the first half of 2017, many fans were annoyed by the awkward placement of the fingerprint scanner on the right side of the back camera. It apparently caused an ergonomic nightmare for consumers, especially to those who have small hands.

Then when it came for Samsung to introduce the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half, many were perplexed as to why the company kept the horrible placement of the fingerprint reader. It definitely did not make sense since many users and tech sites had already complained about the location of the biometric system on the S8 and S8+ prior this.

On Sunday, Samsung finally grabbed the chance to talk about the fingerprint sensor of its flagships. However, instead of admitting to not thinking things through when it designed the 2017 lineup of flagships, the tech giant insinuated that it might have not been aware of the problem in the first place.

Samsung only said that it listened carefully to the feedback of consumers when it decided to transfer the fingerprint scanners on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ “directly below the camera, where it’s even easier to reach.” However, the fact that it did indirectly acknowledge that the sensors on the S8, S8+ and Note 8 weren’t that easy to reach strongly suggests that it was actually aware of the issue.

For this very reason, SamMobile is not pleased by Samsung’s gesture of not owning up to the mistake it did with last year’s high-end smartphones. The news outlet also lashed Samsung for trying to conceal the biggest design mistake it did by using the very common marketing strategy of listening to the feedback of its customers.