Ever since it launched in South Korea earlier this year, we have been waiting for this moment. Samsung Pay, the OEM’s answer to Apple Pay and Android Pay, is now finally available in the US. It has an advantage over the two aforementioned mobile payment gateways, as it uses more than just one kind of technology, but it is limited by the compatible smartphones, as well as one of the major carriers still holding out on allowing its subscribers to use Samsung Pay.
First off, the good news. Unlike Apple Pay and Android Pay that just use NFC technology, Samsung Pay uses that and also “Magnetic Source Transmission” technology, which is the same kind that credit card readers use. Not a lot of stores use NFC for now, so that has limited the reach of the first two mentioned, while Samsung Pay can have a wider range of stores where you can use it, given the options.
For another, it is secure as it uses “tokenization” where every time you make a payment, a temporary credit card information is sent to the terminal so that your actual credit card info isn’t sent. It also uses Samsung Knox and fingerprint authentication. But the limitation for Samsung Pay is for compatible devices. For now, it’s only available on Galaxy S6, S6 edge, Note5 and S6 edge+, but hopefully, other Samsung devices can also be made compatible.
If you have any of those devices, you can use Samsung Pay if you have MasterCard, Visa or American Express card issued by the following banks: Bank of America, Citi, American Express or U.S. Bank. As for the carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular are allowing their subscribers to use Samsung Pay, while Verizon is still “in the process of evaluating Samsung Pay.”
SOURCE: Samsung
