Galaxy S6 To Showcase New Samsung Mobile Payment System
As is always the case, Samsung's next flagship is portrayed with almost godlike powers and the Galaxy S6 is no different. Perhaps aside from the fact that it might not be running on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. In addition to dual curved edges and a new "stationary" fingerprint sensor instead of a swipe-based one, now the smartphone is rumored to have one more special feature. If the information is accurate, the Galaxy S6 will be the first to bear Samsung's new mobile payment system, that is rumored not to rely on NFC.
Samsung sees itself more than just an Android OEM, above other Android OEMs. It sees itself more like an Apple, not just selling devices but also selling services, a whole ecosystem, even. So when Apple jumped into the mobile payment market, Samsug unsurprisingly is rumored to be doing the same. To give a bit of credit though, the rumors say that Samsung will be doing it quite differently from anyone else.
Apple Pay relies on NFC, almost like some other payment systems. In fact, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s's NFC chips can only be used for Apple Pay and nothing else. Though quite convenient for the user, requiring only a tapping action to pay, merchants aren't too keen on adopting the new technology because of the overhead involved in upgrading their systems to include NFC.
Enter LoopPay, a technology developed at Burlington, Massachusetts and rumored to be the technology that Samsung is adopting for the Galaxy S6. The video below shows a gist of how it works, which basically requires swiping your own cards and storing their information on your phone. The advantage of LoopPay, however, is in how it interacts with existing POS systems. Simply hold your phone over the area where you usually swipe your card and let LoopPay do the magic. No need for merchants and vendors to switch out their POS or buy new ones.
LoopPay makes use of a special case to transmit the information from phone to POS, but the Galaxy S6 is likely to have the electronics built-in. It is also possible that Samsung will add a layer of security via its rumored fingerprint sensor. Presuming, of course, all of these come true. It does sound almost like a dream come true for mobile payment fans, and we will definitely know the real deal in a few weeks at MWC 2015.
VIA: phoneArena