A few weeks ago, the first rumors surfaced concerning Samsung Pay Mini, an application that could make Samsung Pay available to iPhone or non-Galaxy Android users. Now, a trademark application filed in the European Union confirms that Pay Mini is indeed in the works.
Filed last week at the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the application for protection of the trademark Samsung Pay Mini lists ‘Mobile payment application (software) for smart phones’ and ‘Mobile and internet payment services‘ as its main descriptions, leaving little to the imagination.
Previously, it became clear Pay Mini is in essence an app that offers access to Samsung Pay through non-Galaxy phones that lack support for Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology. This will not only include other Android OEMs, but bring iOS support as well. Still, without MST support Pay Mini lacks the distinctive advantage of using the service on a MST-compatible device like the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S7.
MST is what makes Samsung Pay stand out from the crowd. It enables the payment service to work with existing credit card terminals so merchants don’t need to buy expensive equipment just to support Samsung Pay, and users can easily pay with their smartphone almost everywhere they can already pay by credit or debit card. No other payment service offers that flexibility yet.
No matter the pros and cons of launching what is basically just another payment app, it is not yet known when Samsung intends to launch Pay Mini. Perhaps it will be introduced on August 2, as Samsung holds its next Unpacked event in New York, where we will also get to meet the Galaxy Note 7, but that is just speculation on our side.
