According to a report by Hyuandai Securities first published by South Korean based etnews, Samsung Pay is set to become the dominant mobile Payments platform in Asia. Already achieving strong growth in Samsung’s home market of South Korea, Samsung Pay is expected to be rolled out in numerous Asian countries, including China, in the near future.
According to Hyundai Securities, Samsung Pay is set to take 49% market share in Asia in 2016. The prediction is based on the payment system being adopted in China as part of Samsung’s overall global roll-out of the service.
The forecast is also primarily based on Samsung widening the availability of Samsung Pay to a wider variety of, and more importantly, cheaper phones. Currently, beyond the mobile payment service only available in the US and South Korea, Samsung Pay is limited to the company’s flagship Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 phones.
The limitation to more expensive phones is partially based on the inclusion of extra technology features to handle mobile payments such as near field communication (NFC) for contactless payments. In contrast to similar payment solutions from Apple, Samsung’s phones also include technology to allow for payments to non-NFC payment terminals. Nonetheless, to achieve wider adoption of Samsung Pay, the firm will have to make it available on the cheaper phones that are popular in Asia.
Beyond widening the spectrum of available Samsung Pay users, for Samsung to hit Hyundai Securities forecasts, they will also have to contend with Apple Pay. Partnering with China UnionPay earlier this month, Apple Pay is expected to be launched in China in early 2016.
Another wildcard to factor in is Google and their Android Pay system. With Android, Google operates the dominant operating system in Asia. As such, a proliferation of cheaper phones containing NFC functionality could make it worthwhile for Google to partner with local banks and card network providers to launch Android Pay in numerous countries.
