Samsung Pay Arrives In China

Samsung Pay is now available in China, the world’s largest mobile market, after the South Korean firm teamed up with Chinese bank UnionPay to offer the service to its customers in the country.

The launch will allow Samsung device users in China to pay for purchases using their mobile devices instead of using cash or cards.

The service is available on the newly-released Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, as well as the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 devices, with Samsung adding that some additional mid-range models will also be supported in the future.

Positive

“We are pleased to be partnering with CUP to bring Samsung Pay to China,” said Samsung’s Injong Rhee. “The reception of Samsung Pay since its launch has been extremely positive and the service has already seen tremendous success in terms of availability and adoption by consumers.”

Samsung Pay in China will support select credit and debit cards from nine major banks in the country, including China CITIC Bank, China Construction Bank and China Everbright Bank.

China could well be an important battleground for the mobile payments market, as the country’s huge number of device users are eager to start using the technology.

Last month, Apple announced that China would be the fifth country to see a release of Apple Pay, partnering with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, however the country’s payment market is currently dominated by Alibaba’s AliPay service, which enjoys a huge market share thanks to its large domestic presence.

Samsung confirmed last month that Samsung Pay would be coming to the UK in 2016, but neglected to provide a specific launch date.

However, the company revealed at Mobile World Congress that it has signed up a number of big names to partner with the launch, most notably Transport for London (TfL), which has been instrumental in getting both mobile and contactless payments into the public eye in the UK.

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