Samsung may extend Samsung Pay to lower-end phones in India

Samsung may be working to expand the reach of Samsung Pay by enabling some of its lower-end handsets sold in India to support its mobile wallet, according to media reports.

Currently Samsung Pay is available only for the South Korea-based electronics company’s newer, full-featured handsets including its Galaxy line, which account for only about 40% of Samsung’s 800 million handsets used worldwide.

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

But Samsung is exploring possibilities for enabling its lower-cost “J model” handsets sold in India to support the mobile wallet, which could greatly expand its reach there, reports Mashable. The move would also allow Samsung to reach a broader market in India, particularly rural areas where the latest smartphone models have not taken off.

An advantage Samsung Pay has had over rival mobile wallets since its 2015 launch is its near-universal reach to all payment terminals, even those not enabled for Near Field Communication. Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) continues to provide an edge over Apple Pay and Android Pay, which each require NFC, in many markets with a low penetration of NFC-enabled terminals.

Mobile wallets are seeing strong growth in recent months since India’s move to demonetize certain bills.