Samsung is continuing its push into the US mobile payments market this week, having just announced support for two more financial institutions. Samsung Pay now supports debit and credits cards from TD Bank and Regions bank.
This announcements brings the total number of supported banks and credit unions up to 130, including 60 Visa and MasterCard banks, which accounts for 75 percent of the US market. That’s certainly a notable achievement given that the service only launched back in March with just 70 institutions on board. By comparison, the Apple Pay services supports 90 percent of banks in the US, but bank support is only half of the requirements to make mobile payments useful and successful.
While Apple and Android Pay are completely reliant on NFC payment terminals and smart devices to complete transactions, Samsung Pay supports magnetic strip and EMV in addition. This is an important distinction as it allows Samsung’s technology with work with older card machines and payment terminals that don’t support the newer NFC standard. With this in mind, perhaps it’s Samsung’s payment system that has the best chance at becoming ubiquitous, however Samsung is still some way behind its major rival Apple in terms of the number of consumers using its service.
At last count, Samsung Pay has some 5 million customers while Apple Pay has over 12 million users. Although to be fair, Apple Pay has been on the market for notably longer. The latest figures actually suggest that Samsung Pay, and Android Pay, are growing at faster rates. This likely has something to do with the growing number of supported Samsung handsets, along with the company’s superior magnetic strip and EMV technology.
See also: Samsung Pay: What is it, how does it work and how do I use it?
Samsung still needs to get more of its consumer’s in consumers hands though, as only the last two generations of flagship handsets support the feature. Currently only the Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Active, Note 5, and the S6 Edge+ are supported. However, the company has hinted that it will be bringing Samsung Pay to some of its mid-range smartphones this year.
Furthermore, Samsung is gradually catching up to Apple Pay’s global market presence. Samsung Pay is now online in China and launches are expected to arrive in the UK and Australia soon. A number of European countries are also expected to come online in the coming months, and a recent job listing has also been spotted to support the launch of the service in Ukraine.
Mobile payments are still in the relatively early days, and Samsung is pushing hard to expand its ecosystem as quickly as possible. If you’re looking into making use of Samsung Pay, you can find the full list of financial partners right here.
from Android Authority http://ift.tt/1NyUdIk
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