Not to be outdone by Apple that launched its Apple Pay mobile payment product first in China last week, Samsung has announced a performance update for Samsung Pay. Like Apple, Samsung has set its eyes on the fast growing Chinese mobile payment market with Samsung Pay scheduled to launch in the country in March.
Upon launching in China, the country will join South Korea and the US where Samsung Pay is currently available. Also expected this year are launches of the payment platform in Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Spain and the UK.
The announcement comes as Samsung is expected to launch new products to its smartphone line at this year’s Mobile World Congress this year. Directly related to Samsung Pay and worth watching are which new phones this year will support the payment service. Samsung has stated that in addition to high end phones, Samsung Pay will become supported by a mid-range phones such as the Galaxy A5 and A7.
Over $500 million dollars in Payments
Along with providing an update about China, Samsung announced that it has reached about five million registered Samsung Pay users who have processed over $500 million dollars in payments on the platform since it was launched six months ago. On the news, Injong Rhee, EVP and Head of R&D, Software and Services of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics stated: “We’ve already seen significant consumer adoption and we continue to see great momentum. Our aim is to expand Samsung Pay to even more locations around the world, and our customers should expect to see more features in the year to come.”
