Samsung Pay was introduced in the summer of 2015 and has been offered around the world in a limited number of markets, across a comparatively restricted number of devices. To date, Samsung Pay has been offered on the high end or flagship grade models in the Samsung portfolio but as Samsung wishes to increase use of Samsung Pay, so the company is preparing to both offer the technology onto less expensive devices in the portfolio and make it available in more countries around the world. It was very recently reported that Samsung is set to bundle Samsung Pay onto all devices for 2017, except perhaps the lowest end handsets. Samsung’s comments on the matter certainly implied that Samsung Pay would be compatible with all new devices. This would be good news, as would the introduction of Samsung Pay Mini, which will see the mobile payment service available on non-Samsung branded devices.
However, in order to open up the mobile payment service to more customers, Samsung clearly need to make it available in additional countries around the world. At the time of writing, Samsung Pay is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. The promise of a British launch of Samsung Pay by the end of 2016 has been delayed as Samsung has been unable to conclude negotiations with the UK banks. However, we are hearing that Samsung is preparing to launch the application into the Indian market. Here, Samsung Pay should have something of a structural advantage over and above some of the competition because Samsung Pay does not rely on NFC-equipped tills, but can instead use its magnetic strip technology, or MST, on a conventional till. Within the Indian market, mobile payments and the use of credit and debit cards has been rising which could very easily be setting the stage for Samsung to launch their mobile payment solution in the region.
Samsung have also explained that they are set to increase how many smartphones use a fingerprint sensor as part of the security system on the device. Fingerprint scanners remove much of the chore associated with authenticating mobile payment systems and would be an advantage to Samsung’s devices. Should this happen at the same time as including the Samsung Pay application onto 2017’s devices, this could be good news for both the Samsung Pay service and Samsung’s 2017 Galaxy-branded Android-powered smartphones.