Samsung Pay may be heading to less expensive Galaxy phones

Samsung Pay is apparently off to a strong start in South Korea and will be arriving on the shores of the US in just over one weeks’ time. However, the new mobile payment system is currently limited to Samsung’s latest Galaxy S6 range and Note 5 handsets, limiting this useful feature to the premium tier. That may not be the case going forward though, as Samsung has hinted that the payment system will gradually be expanded to lower cost handsets.

When asked if the company was planning to bring Samsung Pay to cheaper handsets, Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung’s mobile division simply responded “it will gradually expand”. While this doesn’t give us a time frame or a suggestion about which devices could be supported in the future, it seems likely that Samsung will roll out its payment system to new, cheaper devices at some point.

“The Samsung Pay service is going well, and I think more users will be able to use it,” – Shin Jong-kyun

Samsung Pay relies on the company’s own magnetic secure transmission technology. Therefore, new hardware is required to fully implement the payment system, although a NFC only variant may also be on the cards. The Gear S2 will be bringing Samsung Pay to wearables via NFC.

This unique hardware is also what gives Samsung Pay a competitive advantage over the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay, as it can be used with a wide range of existing card readers that are based on magnetic technology. The technology doesn’t come cheap, especially as it is first generation, but Samsung may be able to lower the cost of production over time, allowing it to be rolled out to a wider variety of devices.

Samsung Pay is to gradually launch in a number of countries over the coming months and the tech giant is also looking to introduce an online payment solution that runs alongside its current system. Samsung is betting big on mobile payments, so supporting a wide range of devices is surely on the to-do list.