Samsung Pay launches in the US

The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at the company headquarters in Seoul March 13, 2009. Reuters/Lee Jae-Won

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. is making Samsung Pay, its widely used mobile payment app, available in the United States starting today. Samsung Pay can be used for purchases across the U.S.

Samsung Pay launched in Korea last August 20. There are also plans for bringing the payment app to China, the UK and Spain. Samsung Pay’s system is simple, safe and covers more merchants compared to its rivals.

The technology lets users buy goods and services at merchants that accept Near Field Technology or NFC, allowing the Korean company to offer a more versatile payment system than its competition. On top of the NFC-based payment, Samsung Pay also uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology that ensures quick and secure payment transactions. Apple Pay and Android Pay only use NFC.

“Samsung Pay works with almost any card terminal from day one and Galaxy owners can shop with a wallet they never knew was always in their hands”, said Injong Rhee, Global Head of Samsung Pay.

Samsung Pay only works on Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 5 and S6 Edge+ devices operating on the AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular networks in the United States, reported Business Wire. In addition, a user must have either an American Express, MasterCard or Visa card issued through large banks like Bank of America, Citi or US Bank. Ars Technica has revealed the MST readers, or point-of-sale (PoS) terminals that read the magnetic strip tech, will soon become operational.

In South Korea, Samsung is already reporting the success of its mobile payment app. Last week, the company said it had at least $30 million (₩35.1 billion) worth of purchases through Samsung Pay.