Newsletter
Earlier today, Samsung announced that it has launched its mobile payment platform in the People’s Republic of China. The platform, globally famous as Samsung Pay, has just launched in the country and is now ready for use with specific Samsung Pay compatible devices. Along with its announcement, Samsung has revealed its collaboration with local bank China UnionPay. With this partnership, Samsung Pay now supports credit cards and debit cards for the nine banks in the region such as China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Guangfa Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ping An Bank, and Hua Xia Bank.
With this announcement, select smartphone users may now start using their device to enjoy contactless payment options offered by Samsung. As of this writing, only the Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 can use the service. In the near future however, Samsung promises that the mobile payments service will be added to mid-range models that they will be releasing. So if you own a compatible Samsung device and you would like to start using Samsung Pay with your credit or debit card, you simply need to register for an account with Samsung Pay. To do this, you just need to open the Samsung Pay app from your smartphone. From there, step-by-step instructions will be presented on your screen, which you will have to follow carefully. Compared to other contactless payment services, Samsung Pay stands out because it includes Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) wherein older POS machines that have a magnetic card swiper are able to work with the technology.
Apart from the nine banks announced, Samsung is currently working on support for the mobile payment platform for six additional banks namely the Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of Beijing, Industrial Bank, China Bohai Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. While the South Korean company confirmed news about working on support for Samsung Pay for these institutions, they have failed to provide an exact timeline as to when these six banks will be added to their roster of Samsung Pay compatible banks in China.