Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay Logo.svg
Developer(s)Samsung Electronics
Initial releaseAugust 20, 2015; 7 years ago (2015-08-20)
Operating system
PlatformSelected Samsung Galaxy smartphones & Galaxy Watch smartwatches
LicenseProprietary
Websitesamsung.com/samsung-pay

Samsung Pay (stylized as SΛMSUNG Pay) is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Samsung Electronics that lets users make payments using compatible phones and other Samsung-produced devices. The service supports contactless payments using near-field communications (NFC), but also supports magnetic strip-only payment terminals by incorporating magnetic secure transmission (MST) in select devices.[1] In India, it also supports bill payments.[2]

The service was launched in South Korea on August 20, 2015, and in the United States on September 28 of the same year.

Service

Samsung Pay was developed from the intellectual property of LoopPay, a crowdfunded startup company that Samsung acquired in February 2015 for an estimated $300m, one of the largest acquisitions made by the firm. The service supports both NFC-based mobile payment systems (which are prioritized when support is detected),[3] as well as those that only support magnetic stripes. This is accomplished via a technology known as magnetic secure transmission (MST), which emulates the swipe of a permanent magnet strip past a reader by generating the near-field magnetic waveform directly. LoopPay's developers stated that because of this design, the technology would work with "nearly 90%" of all point-of-sale units in the United States (which excludes terminals that require the card to be physically inserted into a slot in order to function).[1]

On phones, the Samsung Pay menu is launched by swiping from the bottom of the screen. Different credit, debit and loyalty cards can be loaded into the app, and selected by swiping between them on-screen.[3]

In South Korea, Samsung Pay can be used for online payments[4] and to withdraw money on selected banks' ATMs.[5]

In Mainland China, Samsung Pay supports In-app payments, QR code payments (Alipay, and WeChat Pay) and public transportation cards of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other cities.

In Hong Kong, Samsung Pay can be linked with Octopus cards, called Smart Octopus, to make electronic payments with stored value service for payments in online or offline systems.[6]

In India, Samsung Pay supports Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and BharatQR.[7] It also supports bill payments via the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).[2]

In May 2020, Samsung Pay unveiled Samsung Money by SoFi, a mobile-first money management experience that makes available a cash management account and accompanying Mastercard debit card via the Samsung Pay app, in partnership with fintech company SoFi.[8]

In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app. These new features also came to the Samsung Pay app in South Korea, despite it not adopting the new "Samsung Wallet" name.[9][10]

Security

Samsung Pay's security measures are based on Samsung Knox and ARM TrustZone technologies; credit card information is stored in a secure token.[3] Payments must be authenticated using a fingerprint scan or passcode.[11][12]

In August 2016, security researcher Salvador Mendoza disclosed a potential flaw with Samsung Pay, arguing that its security tokens were not sufficiently randomized and could become predictable. He also designed a handheld device that could be used to skim magnetic secure transmission tokens, and another which could spoof magnetic stripes on actual card readers using the token. Samsung responded to the report, stating that "If at any time there is a potential vulnerability, we will act promptly to investigate and resolve the issue".[13]

Samsung Pay will not work with devices whose Knox warranty bit is tripped.

Availability

Global availability of Samsung Pay
Global availability of Samsung Pay

Supported countries

Samsung Pay in South Korea, for all intents and purposes, is the Samsung Wallet app. It just is not known as the same name that it is known by in other regions.

Date

(In chronological Order)

Support for payment cards issued in Samsung Wallet availability
August 20, 2015 South Korea South Korea[14] Partial
September 28, 2015 United States United States[14][15] Yes
March 29, 2016 China China[16][17]
June 2, 2016 Spain Spain[18] Yes
June 15, 2016 Australia Australia[19]
June 16, 2016 Singapore Singapore[20]
July 13, 2016 Puerto Rico Puerto Rico[21]
July 19, 2016 Brazil Brazil[22]
September 28, 2016 Russia Russia[23] (Only Mir)[24][note 1]
November 8, 2016 Canada Canada[27][28]
February 24, 2017 Malaysia Malaysia[29]
March 22, 2017 India India[30]
April 27, 2017 Sweden Sweden[31]
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates[32]
May 16, 2017 United Kingdom United Kingdom[33] Yes
May 23, 2017 Switzerland Switzerland[34]
Taiwan Taiwan[35]
May 25, 2017 Hong Kong Hong Kong[36]
September 28, 2017 Vietnam Vietnam[37]
November 15, 2017 Belarus Belarus[38]
March 22, 2018 Italy Italy[39][40] Yes
April 26, 2018 France France[41] Yes
August 21, 2018 South Africa South Africa[42][43]
March 23, 2019 Indonesia Indonesia[44]
January 21, 2020 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan[45]
September 20, 2020[citation needed] Kuwait Kuwait[46]
October 28, 2020 Germany Germany[47] Yes

In May 2016, it was reported that Samsung was developing a spin-off of the service known as Samsung Pay Mini. This service will be used for online payments only, and is also being targeted as a multi-platform service.[48]

In January 2017, Samsung has confirmed that Samsung Pay Mini will not only work on its Galaxy devices but on other Android phones as well, as long as they are running Android Lollipop or above and have a screen resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels or higher.[49][50]

In June 2017, Samsung launched Samsung Pay Mini and currently available on Galaxy J7 Max/On Max (in India)[51]

Availability is limited not just on the basis of where the payment card is issued, but also on the basis of the phone's region (CSC) code. Thus a phone made for an unsupported region can never use Samsung Pay even if it physically resides in a supported region and has a local SIM card. The rather unrelated error "Connection error. Unable to connect to Samsung Pay temporarily. Try again later." is how Samsung Pay reports this problem.

In June 2020, Samsung announced a partnership between Samsung Pay, Curve and Mastercard for the launch of Samsung Pay Card in the UK and more EE countries where Curve has customers later in 2020.

From September 2021, Samsung Pay Mini was made available for Galaxy A and Galaxy M series.[52][53]

Unlike other mobile wallet providers such as Google, Samsung did not fully join the sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as Samsung Pay was still partly operating in the country.

Usage within public transport systems

Due to the open nature of the Android platform, some transit cards are only available through other Android-based mobile wallets or via their own apps (e.g. SmarTrip for Google Pay or PASMO for Android). In addition, Samsung Pay does not allow for users in one region to purchase cards for another. Galaxy devices must be purchased from the region their desired transit card hails. For public transport systems where transit cards can be used, passengers can ride with Samsung Pay if such transit or payment cards can be added to Samsung Pay. Here are the scenarios where Tap & Pay mode is available.

Country/Region Scenario Fare Payment Method(s)
Australia[54] All stations of Transport for NSW Debit and credit cards
China mainland[55] All forms of transit and stores that accept Beijing Transit cards Beijing Transit Card
All forms of transit that accept Shanghai Transit cards and selected forms of transit that accept China City Union cards Shanghai Transit Card
All forms of transit that accept China T-Union cards Beijing T-Union Transit Card, Changsha Transit Card, Changzhou Transit Card, Dalian Transit Card, Foshan Transit Card, Guangzhou Transit Card, Nanjing Transit Card, Shanghai T-Union Transit Card, Shenzhen Transit Card, Shijiazhuang Transit Card, Suzhou Transit Card, Xiamen Transit Card, Xi'an Transit Card, Xuzhou Transit Card
France[56] Select forms of transit that accept Navigo Navigo
Hong Kong[57] All forms of transit and stores that accept Octopus Octopus
Italy[58] All stations of Milan Metro Debit and credit cards
All stations of Rome Metro Debit and credit cards
Russia (suspended)[24][59] Select stations of Moscow Metro Troika (previously added cards only, new cards not allowed), debit and credit cards
Singapore[60] All forms of transit and stores that accept SimplyGo SimplyGo, debit and credit cards
South Korea[61] All forms of transit and stores that accept Cashbee Cashbee
All forms of transit and stores that accept T-Money T-Money
Taiwan[62] All forms of transit and stores that accept EasyCard EasyCard
United Kingdom[63] All stations of Transport for London Debit and credit cards
United States[64] All stations of Metropolitan Transportation Authority Debit and credit cards
All stations of TriMet Debit and credit cards
All stations of Chicago Transit Authority Debit and credit cards

In addition to the above scenarios, Samsung Pay can still be used with other non-Tap & Pay readers that accept contactless open loop payment cards, but they will have to be verified beforehand.

Compatible devices

Flagship smartphones

Galaxy S

Galaxy Note

Galaxy Z

Mid-range smartphones

Galaxy A

Galaxy M

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G

Samsung Galaxy M42 5G (also known as Samsung Galaxy A42 5G in other countries)

Samsung Galaxy M31

Galaxy J

Galaxy C and others

Available to Samsung Pay users within Hong Kong, Macau and China.

Smartwatches

See also

References

  1. ^ As of March 2022, Samsung Pay for Mastercard and Visa is disabled in Russia due to international sanctions imposed as part of its response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and due to financial uncertainty in Russia.[25][26]
  1. ^ a b c "Samsung Pay: What you need to know (FAQ)". CNET. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Samsung India Introduces 'Bill Payments' on Samsung Pay, Now Pay all Your Utility Bills Securely". news.samsung.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d "Samsung Pay: What is it, how does it work, when is it coming to the UK?". Pocket-lint. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  4. ^ "Samsung Pay ATM Cash Withdrawals Go Live, but with Limited Availability for Now". April 29, 2016.
  5. ^ J Yeo (August 21, 2015), 삼성페이로 우리은행ATM에서 인출하기 How to withdraw from Wooribank ATM, retrieved May 21, 2016
  6. ^ "Now your phone can replace your Octopus card (if it's a Samsung)". South China Morning Post. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  7. ^ "Samsung Pay Launched in India; UPI Integration Announced". NDTV Gadgets360.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. ^ "Introducing Samsung Money by SoFi: Do More With Your Money". May 27, 2020.((cite web)): CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Introducing Samsung Wallet: An easy-to-use, secure platform that holds everything your digital life needs". Samsung US Newsroom. June 16, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  10. ^ "SAMSUNG PAY | Samsung 대한민국". Samsung sec (in Korean). Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  11. ^ "First Look: Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge Finally Gets a Premium Design". Re/code. March 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. ^ "Loop turns almost any point-of-sale system into a mobile payment machine (hands-on)". Engadget. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  13. ^ "Flaw in Samsung Pay lets hackers wirelessly skim credit cards". ZDNet. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Samsung Announces Launch Dates for Groundbreaking Mobile Payment Service: Samsung Pay". Samsung. August 14, 2015.
  15. ^ "Samsung Mobile Payment Service – Samsung Pay, Available Starting Today in the U.S." Samsung. September 28, 2015.
  16. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in China with China Union Pay". Samsung. March 29, 2016.
  17. ^ Catherine Shu (March 29, 2016). "Samsung Pay just launched in China, but already faces fierce competition". techcrunch.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  18. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in Spain". Samsung. June 2, 2016.
  19. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in Australia". Samsung. June 15, 2016.
  20. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Singapore". Samsung. June 10, 2016.
  21. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Puerto Rico". Samsung. July 13, 2016.
  22. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Brazil". Samsung. July 15, 2016.
  23. ^ Dominik Bosnjak (September 30, 2016). "Samsung Pay's Global Footprint Now Includes Russia". AndroidHeadlines.
  24. ^ a b Samsung Pay - Партнеры | Samsung РОССИЯ
  25. ^ "Карты всех платежных систем в России продолжают нормально работать | Банк России". www.cbr.ru. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  26. ^ "SamsungPay и SberPay будут недоступны для карт Visa и Mastercard". RIA Novosti. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  27. ^ "What is Samsung Pay: News, Features, Support, Availability, and More". July 27, 2018.
  28. ^ "Samsung Pay Launch in Canada: CIBC Gets Beta Access". iPhone in Canada. November 8, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  29. ^ "Electronics giant holding roadshow on new payment method". The Star. February 22, 2017.
  30. ^ "Samsung Pay launched in India". GSMArena. March 6, 2017.
  31. ^ Rian Boden (March 9, 2017). "Sweden becomes first Nordic country to get Samsung Pay". NFC World.
  32. ^ ASIF S. (April 27, 2017). "Samsung Pay expands to Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UAE". SamMobile.
  33. ^ Samuel Gibbs (May 6, 2017). "Samsung Pay launches in UK to take on Apple Pay and Google Android Pay". The Guardian. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  34. ^ "Samsung Pay gibts jetzt auch in der Schweiz". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). April 27, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  35. ^ George Liao (May 23, 2017). "Samsung Pay gets rolling in Taiwan". Taiwan News. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  36. ^ Enoch Yiu (May 25, 2017). "Late-comer Samsung Pay goes live in Hong Kong". South China Morning Post.
  37. ^ "Samsung steps into Vietnam's financial services sector". Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  38. ^ "С 15 ноября белорусы смогут платить смартфоном или часами" (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  39. ^ "Samsung Pay launched in Italy". SamMobile. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  40. ^ Rita El Khoury (March 22, 2018). "Samsung Pay launches today in Italy". androidpolice.com. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  41. ^ "Samsung Pay may have quietly gone live in France". SamMobile. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  42. ^ "Samsung Pay Launch in South Africa". Samsung.
  43. ^ "Samsung Pay early access now live". Samsung. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  44. ^ Rahman, Adi Fida. "Masuk Indonesia, Samsung Pay Dikembangkan Anak Bangsa". detikinet (in Indonesian). Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  45. ^ "Samsung Pay - a convenient and secure payment service" (in Russian). Samsung Official Website.
  46. ^ https://www.samsung.com/ae/samsung-pay/ Samsung Pay : Supported Banks : Kuwait
  47. ^ "Samsung Pay is now available in Germany" (in German). Samsung Official Website.
  48. ^ "Samsung Pay Mini coming to other Androids, iPhone and desktop". GSMArena. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  49. ^ "Samsung Pay Mini now official, will be available for non-Galaxy phones". February 2, 2017.
  50. ^ "Samsung Pay Mini to launch for Android".
  51. ^ "Samsung Pay mini - Mobile Payment Service".
  52. ^ S., Asif (April 26, 2021). "Samsung Pay Mini coming to more Galaxy A, Galaxy M series phones". SamMobile. Retrieved September 23, 2021.((cite web)): CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  53. ^ "Samsung Galaxy M31 Getting Samsung Pay mini Support in India". NDTV Gadgets 360. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  54. ^ "Samsung Pay | Samsung Australia". Samsung au. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  55. ^ "type2 | 三星电子 CN". www.samsung.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  56. ^ "Voyagez plus simplement". Samsung fr (in French). Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  57. ^ "Smart Octopus | Samsung Pay | Samsung Hong Kong". Samsung hk_en. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  58. ^ "Samsung Pay". Samsung it (in Italian). Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  59. ^ "troika". Samsung ru (in Russian). Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  60. ^ "Samsung Pay - Mobile E-Payment Service in Singapore". Samsung sg. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  61. ^ "SAMSUNG PAY | Samsung 대한민국". Samsung sec (in Korean). Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  62. ^ "Samsung Pay最強行動支付 | 台灣三星電子". Samsung tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  63. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Samsung uk. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  64. ^ "More than a wallet". Samsung Electronics America. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
Categories