Samsung has been working to improve its mobile payments service ever since it launched on a small number of devices last year, and now the company feels the service is ready for prime time. Starting in 2017, Samsung Pay will come pre-installed on nearly every Galaxy smartphone, and even other Android phones will be able to get in on the act.
In a statement to Business Korea, Samsung confirmed that it will begin bundling the app on all Galaxy phones that include a fingerprint scanner, which will no longer be limited to the flagships and mid-range models. Earlier this year, Koh Dong-Jin, president of Samsung’s mobile division announced that the company was exploring ways to bring fingerprint readers to budget phones such as the Galaxy J series, an affordable line of handsets targeted at emerging markets.
While Galaxy S7 owners have always been able to enjoy Samsung Pay, they previously had to download the application via a shortcut. With next year’s phones, Samsung will be eliminating that step, making it that much easier for users to get set up with the service, the only to offer magnetic secure transmission in addition to the standard NFC. This allows it to be used on virtually any credit card payment terminal, not just ones updated with newer technology.
Additionally, the company is eyeing an early 2017 release of a Samsung Pay Mini app in the Google Play Store that will extend the payment service to other Android phones for online shopping. Earlier this week, a similar app was rejected by Apple for inclusion in its App Store.
Why this matters: Like virtual assistants, there are several competing payment services depending on the phone you are using. Samsung’s move to expand Samsung Pay to more phones could muddy the landscape even more, but the more people who adopt contactless payments, the closer we’ll get to a standardized system that just works no matter which phone you have.
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