Samsung has announced that it has brought Samsung Pay to Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. Hong Kong and Switzerland are on early access, while Sweden and the United Arab Emirates now have full access to Samsung’s mobile payments solution. This expansion marks Samsung Pay’s debut in the Middle East and the Nordic region, but the company has yet to reveal more details about further expansion into these regions. The South Korean tech giant also did not announce any sort of unique initiatives, contests, discounts, or other regional party favors for the new markets, though Sweden and the United Arab Emirates can integrate select loyalty and other perk cards with their Samsung Pay wallet. Switzerland, meanwhile, will see the ability to add prepaid cards, the company said.
Samsung stated that this expansion is another step towards their vision of a cashless world dominated by digital wallets that are more secure and easier to use than traditional payment methods. Naturally, this means that the firm plans to continue expanding the service at a rapid pace, as it has been doing so far. While getting Samsung Pay out to a wider audience and ensuring it’s accepted by a wider range of businesses is a vital part of growing the service, Samsung pointed out that it currently has an edge in the market of value-added services for digital wallets. Things like loyalty cards, credit card perks, integration with other digital wallets, and a broad range of other services besides basic transactions are not strictly Samsung’s territory in the mobile payment world, but the company says it’s currently the leading player in this field and is adamant to maintain that position.
On a related note, Samsung also talked up the ubiquity of Samsung Pay. The service is available on all flagship Samsung phones from the Galaxy S6 family onward, as well as the Gear S2 and Gear S3 smartwatch families. It will also be making its way to lower-end Samsung devices in the future, a trend which will reportedly get its start in India, a market that’s filled with entry-level and mid-range devices, and make its way out to the rest of Samsung Pay’s markets from there.