What Is Samsung Pay?

Wallet

Samsung Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Samsung Electronics that allows users to make payments using Samsung Galaxy smartphones and wearables. It supports NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology, making it compatible with virtually all point-of-sale terminals, and also works for online payments through supported PSPs.

How It Works

1. **Customer selects Samsung Pay**: At online checkout, the customer selects Samsung Pay as their payment method, or in-store, they open the Samsung Wallet app. 2. **Card selection**: The customer chooses which card to use from their Samsung Wallet. 3. **Authentication**: The customer authenticates with fingerprint, iris scan, or Samsung Wallet PIN. 4. **Token transmission**: Samsung Pay generates a one-time tokenized card number. For in-store payments, it transmits via NFC (or MST on supported devices). For online payments, the token is passed to the merchant's PSP. 5. **Processing**: The transaction is processed through the card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) using the token, at standard card processing rates. 6. **Confirmation**: Both the customer and merchant receive confirmation of the completed transaction.

Key Details

Processing Time

Instant

Typical Fees

Same as card processing

Limits

Same as underlying card limits

Supported Countries

23 countries

Real-timeRecurringCross-border

Pros & Cons

Pros

Pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy devices — the world's most popular Android smartphone brand — providing a potentially massive user base without requiring customers to download a separate app.
MST technology (on supported older devices) enables contactless payments at traditional magnetic stripe terminals, working at more physical locations than NFC-only wallets.
No additional fees for merchants — Samsung Pay transactions are processed at standard card rates through existing card networks and PSPs.
Strong security through tokenization and biometric authentication (fingerprint, iris) means the actual card number is never shared with merchants.

Cons

Limited to Samsung devices only — unlike Google Pay which works on any Android phone, Samsung Pay requires a compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone or wearable.
Lower active usage than Apple Pay or Google Pay despite Samsung's large device market share, meaning fewer customers will actually choose Samsung Pay at checkout.
MST support is being phased out in newer Samsung devices, removing the unique advantage that differentiated Samsung Pay from other mobile wallets.
Samsung Wallet rebranding and feature consolidation has created confusion among some users about what Samsung Pay is and how it differs from Samsung Wallet.

Use Cases

Online merchants targeting Samsung-heavy markets (South Korea, parts of Southeast Asia, Brazil) where Samsung Pay adoption is highest.
Omnichannel retailers accepting NFC-based mobile payments in-store alongside online Samsung Pay through their PSP.
Merchants already supporting Apple Pay and Google Pay who want to add Samsung Pay for comprehensive mobile wallet coverage with minimal additional effort.
Subscription and membership businesses in Samsung-dominant markets offering stored wallet checkout for repeat purchases.
In-store merchants in markets with limited NFC terminal adoption leveraging MST compatibility on older Samsung devices.

Samsung Pay is Samsung's digital wallet and mobile payment platform, available on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets. Launched in 2015, it distinguishes itself from Apple Pay and Google Pay through its unique MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology, which allows Samsung Pay to work at traditional magnetic stripe card terminals — not just NFC-enabled ones. This gave Samsung Pay a significant early advantage in markets where NFC terminal adoption was still low.

## MST and NFC: Universal Acceptance

Samsung Pay's killer feature at launch was MST technology. While Apple Pay and Google Pay require NFC-enabled terminals, Samsung Pay could emulate the magnetic stripe of a card, allowing it to work at virtually any terminal that accepts card swipes. This meant Samsung Pay worked at millions of stores that did not have NFC readers, a massive advantage in the United States and other markets where NFC adoption was incomplete.

However, Samsung has been phasing out MST support in newer devices as NFC terminal adoption has become near-universal in most developed markets. Recent Galaxy flagships support NFC only. MST remains functional on older Samsung devices where it was supported.

## Online Payments

Beyond in-store contactless payments, Samsung Pay supports online and in-app payments. When a customer selects Samsung Pay at an online checkout, the payment is processed using a tokenized card number, similar to how Apple Pay and Google Pay handle web transactions. The customer authenticates using fingerprint, iris scan, or PIN on their Samsung device.

For merchants, Samsung Pay online payments are integrated through payment processors and gateways. Stripe, Adyen, and Checkout.com all support Samsung Pay as a payment method in their checkout flows. The integration is typically handled through the PSP's existing digital wallet infrastructure — merchants enabling Apple Pay and Google Pay through these PSPs can often enable Samsung Pay with minimal additional effort.

## Market Position and User Base

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone manufacturer by market share, and Samsung Pay is pre-installed on most Galaxy devices. This gives it a potentially massive user base, particularly in markets where Samsung has strong market share — South Korea, the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, and parts of Europe. However, actual active usage of Samsung Pay for payments is lower than the install base would suggest, as many Samsung users prefer Apple Pay (on iPhones) or Google Pay, or simply use their physical cards.

Samsung Pay competes in a crowded field. Apple Pay dominates among iOS users, Google Pay is the default on non-Samsung Android devices, and regional wallets (like Alipay and WeChat Pay in China) dominate their local markets. Samsung Pay's unique value is its exclusive availability on Samsung hardware and the MST feature on older devices.

## Fees

Samsung Pay does not charge consumers or merchants directly. Merchants pay the same card processing fees they would for any card-present (in-store) or card-not-present (online) transaction. The tokenized card transaction is processed through the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) at standard interchange rates. There is no Samsung Pay-specific surcharge. For online transactions through PSPs like Stripe or Adyen, the PSP's standard pricing applies.

## Samsung Wallet

In 2022, Samsung merged Samsung Pay with Samsung Pass into Samsung Wallet, a broader digital wallet that includes payment cards, loyalty cards, boarding passes, digital keys, and identity documents. The payment functionality remains the same, but the branding and app experience are now under the Samsung Wallet umbrella in supported markets.