Samsung Pay finally supports American Express cards in the UK as the company has just announced yesterday that Samsung Pay users can now add Amex cards to the app and use them though the mobile payment solution anywhere Samsung Pay is accepted, which should be just about anywhere you can swipe a credit or debit card thanks to the MST technology that Samsung Pay is built off of. While just about any recent Galaxy device from the last couple of years can set up their American Express cards within the app, Samsung highlights that there are some additional benefits for those who have the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8 – the ability to authorize those payments with the integrated Iris Scanner that each of those devices includes, in addition to the fingerprint sensor and PIN numbers.
For users who have an American Express credit card, setting up payments from that card using Samsung Pay should be quite simple, as you only need to open up the app and tap add new card to get the process started. Since these are a bit different than credit or debit cards issued by banks, which typically use Visa or MasterCard, there should be less worry about specific American Express cards being supported, unlike certain cards from banks which have sometimes lacked support initially depending on the card type.
American Express is just the latest card type to be supported by Samsung Pay in the UK, joining the likes of MasterCard, Visa, Co-operative Bank, First Direct, HSBC, M&S Bank, MBNA, Nationwide, and Santander, keeping in mind that users with any of those additional supported institutions will want to make sure that the specific card they have is actually supported as well. With the announcement having been made earlier, following the company’s own Samsung Developer Conference 2017, adding an American Express card into the Samsung Pay mobile wallet through the application should already be live, allowing users to add and use the cards right away at participating locations and retailers. In addition to the three above-mentioned devices, Samsung Pay is also supported on the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, the Galaxy A3 2017, the Galaxy A5 2016 and 2017, the Galaxy J5, and the Gear S3 smartwatch for anyone who wants to use the mobile payment solution but doesn’t have a Galaxy device.