Mobile payment systems are still not as popular as the tech companies would like them to be. Still, mobile payments could become more popular in a near future as they get support in more regions and more devices. Samsung had an interesting approach with their own system called Samsung Pay, as it is compatible with only 4 of their devices, but in addition of using NFC technology like other payment systems, it uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), allowing older credit card terminals to take payments from the compatible devices. This is good for retailers and merchants as they don’t have to upgrade their terminals.
Samsung Pay was first launched in Korea, and it was very successful. Then it reached the US and it is expected to become available in additional regions next year. Of course, Samsung has been promoting this service in order to teach customers and retailers how to use it, while offering a few discounts to those already using this service. It has been reported that Samsung Pay will launch in China in early 2016, which could make this service become very popular. According to a report from ETNews, Hyundai Securities mentioned that the market share of this service could reach 49 percent in Asia. Samsung has already partnered with Chinese companies Alibaba and UnionPay to ensure some success for Samsung Pay’s debut in that region.
China’s Alibaba controls around 75% of the e-commerce market from that country and UnionPay controls around 73% of Asian markets. UnionPay was responsible for issuing 52% of all the cards around the world, and those cards can be used internationally in more than 150 countries at 26 million of affiliated stores. Samsung Pay is currently compatible with the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5. The Gear S is also expected to support Samsung Pay and the company has mentioned that some mid-range devices will be compatible with the payment system, as well. So, all of these facts could make the prediction to become true, and even if it doesn’t reach such high percentage in market share, it will surely grow quite a bit.