Samsung Announces ‘Samsung Pay’ Mobile Payment Service

Samsung has announced its own mobile payment service called ‘Samsung Pay,’ which is scheduled for launch in Korea on August 20th and in the US on September 28th. Samsung’s answer to the Apple Pay is no surprise to me.

JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics said, “With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment. This is Samsung’s brave step forward to enhance our mobile experience. It is easy, safe, and most importantly, available virtually anywhere you can swipe a card, in most cases without new costs for merchants, from day one.”

Samsung Pay makes use of the metallic stripe on a credit card, in addition to NFC for contactless payments, which makes it work almost anywhere where your credit card does. Samsung Pay is compatible with the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note 5 that Samsung just announced. The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge also feature Samsung Pay-compatible hardware, an update scheduled for mid-August will enable Samsung Pay on both the devices. And select US users of the S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 will be able to roll in a beta trial starting on August 25th.

Samsung plans to launch its payment service in the UK, Spain and China in the near future.