Samsung has just announced Samsung Pay Mini, a new variant of their mobile payment service. Samsung Pay Mini rumors have been surfacing for quite some time now, and it was more or less just a matter of time before Samsung finally confirms that the service is coming. The company has just announced that the service is coming to Android, and it will launch in the company’s home country, South Korea, in this quarter, though Samsung did not specify when exactly can we expect it to land.
Samsung Pay Mini will work with basically any Android-based handset as long as its display has at least HD resolution (1280 x 720) and Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher. Much like Samsung Pay, Samsung Pay Mini will make it possible for you to pay for stuff online using your smartphone, and you’ll even be able to use some Samsung Pay services through Samsung Pay Mini, including lifestyle, membership and transportation, which was not something many people expected will be included. There’s a difference between Samsung Pay and Samsung Pay Mini, as you will not be able to make offline payments using Samsung Pay Mini. In order to use Samsung Pay offline payments, you’ll need a compatible Samsung smartphone, as such payments are not available through Samsung Pay Mini, unfortunately.
In addition to all this, it’s worth noting that Samsung plans to conduct a test of their new service on February 6th in South Korea. The company will use Samsung Card in order to test out their new service, and anyone who owns this card in South Korea will be able to test out the app, as a trial version of Samsung Pay Mini will be available through the Google Play Store. The company has confirmed that Samsung Pay Mini will roll out to other markets as well, but the company did not release any info whatsoever as to when can we expect for that to happen, but it will probably land in other markets in the first half of this year if it’s coming to Korea in H1 2017, but we’re only guessing. In any case, there you have it, Samsung’s new payment service is now official, and those are great news for those of you who are still using entry-level smartphones, as Samsung Pay Mini will probably be most popular in emerging markets.
