Samsung Pay Launches in Australia with Chase and Citi

Samsung Pay has launched in Australia with support from American Express and Citigroup, though it said it is expanding its "partnership ecosystem."

In the last year Samsung Pay has gone live in South Korea, the United States, China and most recently, Spain. Australia seemed a promising market opportunity with its high demand for contactless payments and successful launch in neighboring regions, Elle Kim, global vice president of Samsung Pay’s mobile communications business, said in a June 15 press release. The company has processed more than $1 billion of transactions in South Korea alone since its August launch.

Samsung's mobile wallet, like Apple Pay and Android Pay, enables Near Field Communication-based contactless payments at the point of sale. However, it also employs a magstripe signal to support payments not made on NFC terminals – something unique to Samsung among the other mobile payments services.

“Samsung Pay adopts an open engagement model, designed to support payment and non-payment cards from multiple providers. By doing this, Samsung can operate seamlessly with a wide range of partners, systems and payment channels,” Kim added.

Samsung Pay is available to Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge users in Australia. Availability varies by local operator.