News

Dubai Airport To Introduce Complete Biometric Admin System

The new technology will make journeys faster and seamless by identifying people based on unique physical and behavioral cues.

Published

3 years ago

September 13, 2023

Nour Nasir

dubai airport to introduce complete biometric admin system

Dubai Airport is working on a unified biometric system for check-ins, immigration, and boarding that will improve speed and efficiency for passengers.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) said that Dubai International Airport would deploy the technology to identify individuals based on unique physical or behavioral characteristics.

This single system will increase the number of passengers that can be handled by airport staff while eliminating the need for immigration counters, officials explained.

“We have been working on this one biometric project for two years. The idea is to make passenger journeys faster, easier, and seamless using one biometric. For example, passengers coming for check-in will use the same biometrics in immigration, lounge, and boarding the aircraft. We call it a smart journey. In the future, we may not see classic counters as we know them today,” said Major General Obaid bin Suroor, deputy director-general of GDRFA.

Meanwhile, Major General Talal Al Shangeti, assistant director-general of the Airport Passport Sector at GDRFA, said that the GDRFA was working with all stakeholders to improve services to make Dubai International Airport one of the best in service.

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Over 42 million passengers used airports and immigration borders, with 37% using smart gates during the January-June period.

“Our target is to reach 80% of people using smart gates and other technologies. We hope to achieve this in a couple of years. We believe Dubai airport will completely deploy biometric technology,” revealed Major General Talal.

Currently, there are 120 operational smart gates at Dubai International Airport, and the aim is to reach 150 by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

Also Read: Shokz OpenFit Pro Review: Open-Ear Audio Finally Grows Up

For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.