Samsung Pay to expand beyond expensive Galaxy phones

Samsung introduced its mobile payment system in its home country of South Korea in August as an answer to Apple Pay. Samsung Pay then made its way to expensive smartphones, including the newly launched Galaxy Note 5. Now, the Korean giant has plans to expand the Samsung Pay contactless mobile payment system into budget handsets, as well.

“It will gradually expand,” said Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung mobile business, reports The Korea Herald.

Currently, only users of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus can avail of the service. On the other hand, the recently launched Android Pay is compatible with any Android device with a Near Field Communication (NFC) capability, which is a huge advantage in the long run.

Android Pay is available only in the U.S. with Android KitKat 4.4 or later on board. Samsung is supposed to launch its mobile payment service in the U.S. on Sept. 28.

Ahead of its U.S. launch, some 500,000 subscribers have already registered with Samsung Pay in South Korea. Except for the pricey models, the expansion of Samsung Pay to cheaper handsets will ensure a significantly larger reach for Samsung as it makes a grab for more users.

“The Samsung Pay service is going well, and I think more users will be able to use it,” Shin added.

Samsung Pay has the potential to reach out to more customers as it works with both NFC and its own Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) system based on the LoopPay mobile-payment platform. MST allows payments at point-of-sale terminals via an electromagnetic field. This will give Samsung Pay an edge in the U.S. over its rivals Apple Pay and Android Pay, which are compatible only with NFC.

In an interview posted on SamsungTomorrow, Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President Samsung Electronics, said the most attractive aspect of Samsung Pay is that it enables users to make payments through credit cards, rewards cards, gift cards, department store cards as well as and store-brand cards with a single mobile device.

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