Verizon has announce that it will soon support Samsung Pay. The carrier made the understated announcement about supporting the service via Twitter, stating that it would enable it through a future software update to compatible devices. Verizon was the only major carrier in the US not supporting the Samsung Pay when it launched late last month. At the time, Verizon stated it was in the “process of evaluating” the service and would provide an update if there was any change…clearly there has now been a change! Verizon did not set any timeframe for the launch, only disclosing that it would be available through a “future update.” If you are a Verizon user with a Galaxy Note 5 or a device in the Galaxy S6 family, we are guessing the update will hit sooner rather than later.
Samsung Pay will be supported on compatible Verizon smartphones (Galaxy S 6, S 6 edge, Note5, S6 edge +) through a future software update.
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) October 6, 2015
We continue to question Samsung releasing their own mobile payment system, separate from Google’s Android Pay. It feels like an unnecessary level of complexity and bloat when there is a nearly identical solution already baked into the Android operating system. The primary differentiator between the two services is Samsung’s use of MTS technology (which allows the phone to transmit card info to magnetic swipe payment terminals). Unfortunately we don’t think that MTS alone will cause users to switch to Samsung and with chip-and-pin and chip-and-signature becoming standards globally, the magnetic swipe’s days are numbered.
