Samsung’s pretty satisfied with its new mobile payments system that it’s worked hard at putting together. Money’s been trading hands at a good clip. The company’s Injong Rhee has been rallying retail support in the US. But one of the big stumbling blocks that appears in contrast with the number of smartphones the manufacturer sells every year is that Samsung Pay’s reach is limited to owners of this year’s flagships.

We’ve had breadcrumbs about the chaebol’s plans to expand the service to mid-range and low-end phones. But for that to happen, those phones are going to need fingerprint sensors for authentication, something that an industry source says the company will introduce soon.

More “high-end features” are also coming soon, the source said.

What those features are, how soon and to which future devices they will go to, we don’t know. That means we also don’t know if these devices will also get the Magentic Secure Transmission technology that’s integral to the swipe-simulation payments that Samsung Pay allows.

Given the top popularity of Samsung’s budget phones in 14 emerging markets, MST swipes may make or break success for Samsung Pay in those markets as NFC might not have the penetration it has in developed markets.

Source: Korea Herald
Via: SamMobile