Samsung S8 smartphone can be unlocked by thieves using a PHOTO of the owner

SAMSUNG smartphone's facial recognition feature can be fooled using a photograph.

It's new smartphone was marketed as the most secure yet, allowing you to unlock it using your face.

But thieves - or pesky friends and other halves - could easily access it by simply showing it a photo of its owner.

The major flaw emerged after a journalist who was granted a demo of the yet-to-be launched smartphones last week uploaded a clip of him bypassing the security system.

The phones aren't available yet, but Twitter user Marcianophone managed to get some hands on time with the new S8 and S8 Plus device during the press launch last week.

During the demo, he registered the S8 to unlock when it recognised his face.

Just hours before, Samsung had revealed how secure its new phone would be thanks to its new facial recognition feature.

But Marcianophone took a selfie using another Samsung phone, and held it up to the phone. It unlocked, proving that the technology is far from secure.

Samsung said: "The Galaxy S8 provides various levels of biometric authentication, with the highest level of authentication from the iris scanner and fingerprint reader.

"In addition, the Galaxy S8 provides users with multiple options to unlock their phones through both biometric security options, and convenient options such as swipe and facial recognition.

"It is important to reiterate that facial recognition, while convenient, can only be used for opening your Galaxy S8 and currently cannot be used to authenticate access to Samsung Pay or Secure Folder."

In fact, when you read the Samsung disclaimer, it warns people that "your phone could be unlocked by someone or something that looks like your image".

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