Samsung Pay

Samsung 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, but also supports magnetic stripe–only payment terminals by incorporating magnetic secure transmission.[1] In countries like India it also supports bill payments.[2]

Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay Logo.svg
Screenshot of Samsung Pay
Screenshot of Samsung Pay
Developer(s)Samsung Electronics
Initial releaseAugust 20, 2015; 4 years ago (2015-08-20)
Operating systemAndroid
PlatformSelected Samsung Galaxy smartphones & Gear smartwatches
LicenseProprietary
Websitesamsung.com/global/galaxy/samsung-pay/
Usage
Supported Platform(s)Selected Samsung Galaxy smartphones & Gear smartwatches

The service was launched in South Korea on August 20, 2015 and in the United States on September 28 of the same year. In 2016, at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016), the telecommunications company announced that Samsung Pay would be coming soon to a variety of banks in Australia, Brazil, Spain and Singapore.[3]

ServiceEdit

Samsung Pay was developed from the intellectual property of LoopPay, a crowdfunded startup company that Samsung acquired in February 2015. The service supports both NFC-based mobile payment systems (which are prioritized when support is detected),[4] as well as those that only support magnetic stripes. This is accomplished via 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.[4]

In South Korea, Samsung Pay can be used for online payments[5] and to withdraw money on selected banks' ATMs.[6]

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.[7]

In India, Samsung Pay supports the government's UPI / BharatQR.[8] It also supports bill payments via the Bharat Bill Payment System.[2]

SecurityEdit

Samsung Pay's security measures are based on Samsung Knox and ARM TrustZone technologies; credit card information is stored in a secure token.[4] Payments must be authenticated using a fingerprint scan or passcode.[9][10]

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".[11]

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

AvailabilityEdit

 
Global availability of Samsung Pay (as of January 21, 2020)
Release dates
Date Support for payment cards issued in
August 20, 2015   South Korea[12]
September 28, 2015   United States[12][13]
March 29, 2016   China[14][15]
June 2, 2016   Spain[16]
June 15, 2016   Australia[17]
June 16, 2016   Singapore[18]
July 13, 2016   Puerto Rico[19]
July 19, 2016   Brazil [20]
September 28, 2016   Russia[21]
November 8, 2016   Canada[3][22]
February 8, 2017   Thailand[23]
February 24, 2017   Malaysia[24]
March 22, 2017   India[25]
April 27, 2017   Sweden[26]
  United Arab Emirates[27]
May 16, 2017   United Kingdom[28]
May 23, 2017   Switzerland[29]
  Taiwan[30]
May 25, 2017   Hong Kong[31]
September 28, 2017   Vietnam[32]
November 15, 2017   Belarus[33]
January 30, 2018   Mexico[34]
March 22, 2018   Italy[35][36]
April 26, 2018   France[37]
August 21, 2018   South Africa[38][39]
March 23, 2019   Indonesia[40]
January 21, 2020   Kazakhstan[41]

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.[42]

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.[43][44]

In June 2017, Samsung launched Samsung Pay Mini and currently available on Galaxy J7 Max/On Max (in India)[45]

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.

Comparison with instant paymentEdit

In digital wallet-based payment systems like PayPal, Apple Pay, AliPay, WeChat Pay etc. users receive immediate notification of the transaction, but funds are transferred at best in the next business day. The settlement time depends on the payment method chosen by the customer, while for instant payment systems, the funds are transferred within seconds or minutes.

Compatible devicesEdit

Flagship smartphonesEdit

Galaxy SEdit

Galaxy NoteEdit

Mid-range smartphonesEdit

Galaxy AEdit

Galaxy JEdit

  • Samsung Galaxy J5 & J7 (2016) (only available in selected countries)
  • Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)/J5 Pro (only available to selected countries)
  • Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)/J7 Pro (only available to selected countries)
  • Samsung Galaxy J7 Max (2017) (only available to selected countries)

Galaxy C and othersEdit

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

SmartwatchesEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  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 http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-pay-news/
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ http://www.techtimes.com/articles/154500/20160429/samsung-pay-atm-cash-withdrawals-go-live-but-with-limited-availability-for-now.htm
  6. ^ J Yeo (August 21, 2015), 삼성페이로 우리은행ATM에서 인출하기 How to withdraw from Wooribank ATM, retrieved May 21, 2016
  7. ^ "Now your phone can replace your Octopus card (if it's a Samsung)". South China Morning Post. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  8. ^ "Samsung Pay Launched in India; UPI Integration Announced". NDTV Gadgets360.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. ^ "First Look: Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge Finally Gets a Premium Design". Re/code. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  10. ^ "Loop turns almost any point-of-sale system into a mobile payment machine (hands-on)". Engadget. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  11. ^ "Flaw in Samsung Pay lets hackers wirelessly skim credit cards". ZDNet. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  12. ^ a b "Samsung Announces Launch Dates for Groundbreaking Mobile Payment Service: Samsung Pay". Samsung. August 14, 2015.
  13. ^ "Samsung Mobile Payment Service – Samsung Pay, Available Starting Today in the U.S." Samsung. September 28, 2015.
  14. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in China with China Union Pay". Samsung. March 29, 2016.
  15. ^ Catherine Shu (March 29, 2016). "Samsung Pay just launched in China, but already faces fierce competition". techcrunch.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  16. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in Spain". Samsung. June 2, 2016.
  17. ^ "Samsung Pay is Now Available in Australia". Samsung. June 15, 2016.
  18. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Singapore". Samsung. June 10, 2016.
  19. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Puerto Rico". Samsung. July 13, 2016.
  20. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Brazil". Samsung. July 15, 2016.
  21. ^ Dominik Bosnjak (September 30, 2016). "Samsung Pay's Global Footprint Now Includes Russia". AndroidHeadlines.
  22. ^ "Samsung Pay Launch in Canada: CIBC Gets Beta Access". iPhone in Canada. November 8, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  23. ^ "Samsung Pay Launches in Thailand". Samsung. February 8, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  24. ^ "Electronics giant holding roadshow on new payment method". The Star. February 22, 2017.
  25. ^ "Samsung Pay launched in India". GSMArena. March 6, 2017.
  26. ^ Rian Boden (March 9, 2017). "Sweden becomes first Nordic country to get Samsung Pay". NFC World.
  27. ^ ASIF S. (April 27, 2017). "Samsung Pay expands to Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UAE". SamMobile.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ "Samsung Pay gibts jetzt auch in der Schweiz" (in German). Tages-Anzeiger. April 27, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  30. ^ George Liao (May 23, 2017). "Samsung Pay gets rolling in Taiwan". Taiwan News. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  31. ^ Enoch Yiu (May 25, 2017). "Late-comer Samsung Pay goes live in Hong Kong". South China Morning Post.
  32. ^ "Samsung steps into Vietnam's financial services sector". Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  33. ^ "С 15 ноября белорусы смогут платить смартфоном или часами" (in Russian). Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  34. ^ "Samsung Pay goes live in Mexico". NFC World. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  35. ^ "Samsung Pay launched in Italy". SamMobile. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  36. ^ Rita El Khoury (March 22, 2018). "Samsung Pay launches today in Italy". androidpolice.com. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  37. ^ "Samsung Pay may have quietly gone live in France". SamMobile. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  38. ^ "Samsung Pay Launch in South Africa". Samsung.
  39. ^ "Samsung Pay early access now live". Samsung. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  40. ^ Rahman, Adi Fida. "Masuk Indonesia, Samsung Pay Dikembangkan Anak Bangsa". detikinet (in Indonesian). Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  41. ^ "Samsung Pay - a convenient and secure payment service" (in Russian). Samsung Official Website.
  42. ^ "Samsung Pay Mini coming to other Androids, iPhone and desktop". GSMArena. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  43. ^ http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-pay-mini-now-official-south-korea-will-be-coming-all-android-phones
  44. ^ http://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-pay-mini-to-launch-for-android/
  45. ^ http://www.samsung.com/in/samsung-pay/mini/