Could Samsung Pay trump Apple Pay with its clever, inclusive technology?
Alongside its two new flagship phones, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung used its March 1 Unpacked event to unveil Samsung Pay.
This is Samsung's take on mobile payments, and as the name suggests, it will go head to head with Apple Pay for mainstream acceptance.
So how do these two services compare? What are the similarities and differences? Most importantly of all, which is best?
Naturally, with no UK availability of Apple Pay, and with the Galaxy S6 not set for launch until next month, we only have limited knowledge of how this fight might turn out.
But here's what we know about these two mobile payment systems and how they compare.
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay – Purpose
Both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay share a common purpose – to enable card-free, wallet-free payments from your smartphone.
In both cases, you can store your debit and credit cards securely on your phone. It's then possible to make payments by holding that phone up to a retailer's payment point.
SEE ALSO: Apple Pay vs Google Wallet
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay – Technology
This is where the two standards really differ. Apple's implementation of Apple Pay is really quite traditional, in the sense that it follows the NFC standard that had been established in previous mobile payment systems.
You can only make Apple Pay payments in NFC reader-equipped retailers – those that still carry traditional card readers are entirely out of the loop until they upgrade.
And that's where Samsung Pay could really trump Apple Pay. Thanks to Samsung's acquisition of LoopPay, it has implemented Magnetic Secure Transmission technology into its payment system.
This essentially fools classic magnetic stripe card reader technology into thinking a physical card is being swipe through, when it's actually a digital signal. In practice, it will feel much like a standard NFC payment.
As such, retailers don't need to upgrade in order to accept mobile payments from Samsung Pay devices.
Of course, Samsung Pay also makes use of NFC technology, where available, to make modern mobile payments. This will become more prominent as time progresses, but for now Samsung Pay's legacy support knocks Apple Pay into a cocked hat.
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay – Support
Apple Pay currently works with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus for in-shop payments, while the introduction of the Apple Watch will also enable you to use a paired iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and iPhone 5S in this way.
Samsung Pay, meanwhile, will work with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge some time after they hit shops on April 10.
The huge install base of Apple's latest devices gives it an obvious advantage here. Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the lead up to December, the vast majority of which will have been iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets.
We're expecting the Galaxy S6 range to sell well – but perhaps not that well.
Elsewhere, both standards are supported by the major debit and credit card companies, including MasterCard and Visa. Apple Pay has a slight advantage in that it also has the support of over 90 banks, though we can expect Samsung Pay to make improvements on its own relatively modest number of supported major banks.
However, in terms of retailer support, Apple Pay's aforementioned technological limitations ensure that it only has around 220,000 US shops in its corner. LoopPay, meanwhile, has stated that its system – the one that forms the basis of Samsung Pay – "has the potential to work in approximately 90 per cent of existing point of point-of-sale terminals."
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay – Authentication and Security
Both systems utilise the phone's fingerprint-scanning technology to authenticate mobile payments.
Previously this would have granted Apple an advantage, as Touch ID has led rival mobile biometric systems by some margin when it comes to reliability and intuitiveness.
However, early reports of the new fingerprint system built into the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge suggest that Samsung has managed to eliminate that gap and draw level with Apple. Both systems simply require a light press of the home button to authenticate.
In terms of the authentication between device and payment point, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are very similar. Both utilise Mobile Digital Enablement System tokenisation.
Tokenisation means that rather than sending out your payment details to the retailer's system, both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay will generate and send out unique "tokens" applicable to a single specific payment.
This ensures that it will be virtually impossible to lift your card details from the information shared in a mobile payment.
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay – Availability
Again, Apple Pay has an advantage here by virtue of being available right now, but that's only in the US at present. It should spread outside American borders this year, but when is anyone's guess.
Samsung Pay meanwhile might not be out yet, but when it does it will hit two territories straight off the bat – the US and South Korea.
Expect to see European roll-outs of both before the end of the year.
Early Verdict
At this early point, Apple Pay obviously holds the advantage by virtue of it being in the market and doing relatively well. But it's only in one market, and only a fraction of that market's shops support it.
Samsung Pay, on the other hand, has the genuine potential to overtake it – and to do so quickly.
It has nothing to do with the relative merits of Samsung's and Apple's handsets, either, although Samsung will need the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge to sell well if Samsung Pay is to flourish.
More important to its prospects is the fact that Samsung Pay has addressed the matter of retail support. You'll be able to make payments using Samsung Pay even in shops that still use the old-fashioned card swipe system. That's huge.
As we suspected, 2015 is going to be a pivotal year for mobile payments – and these two systems are going to be key to the direction they take.