As its name suggests, Samsung Pay was originally designed as a simple solution for making contactless payments exclusive to Samsung-made devices. However, as the adoption rate of wearables is gradually growing, the Seoul-based tech giant is looking into more ways to bring its payment service to consumers, even if the only Samsung device they own is a smartwatch. This feature was offered by the Gear S2 last year, and Samsung also promised that its successor, the Gear S3 will continue that tradition and bring Samsung Pay to competing Android smartphones. The South Korean tech giant recently kept that promise as the Gear S3 version of Samsung Pay started supporting non-Samsung devices last week.
Unfortunately, the list of supported devices still isn’t huge and as it turns out, it doesn’t include the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL. As James Johnston pointed out on Twitter, trying to install Samsung Pay on the Pixel XL with the Gear S3 Frontier returns a generic error which states “installation failed.” In an official response posted by Samsung Pay’s verified Twitter account, the company said that the service is still not compatible with either Pixel smartphone. While it remains unclear why Samsung isn’t supporting one of the most popular Android flagships of the year from the get-go, the company did state that it’s “constantly working to expand Samsung Pay to new devices.” For the time being, that response is as good as we’ll get, though it hopefully implies that Google’s latest smartphones will soon become compatible with the Gear S3 version of Samsung Pay.
Owners of the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL in territories supported by Samsung Pay would certainly benefit from that extended compatibility as Samsung’s solution for contactless payments is one of the most convenient ones in existence. Namely, the Gear S3 version of Samsung Pay works within the Gear Manager app which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store to most Android devices running Android 4.4 KitKat and newer. Once the phone app is paired with the Gear S3, you’re able to make purchases with your smartwatch without ever taking out your phone, which adds an extra level of convenience to the entire process of making purchases.