Samsung Pay and Apple Pay will apparently hit China at the same time, launching as competing services by the Chinese New Year.
The fierce competition between Samsung and Apple is far from dying down and the two companies are competing in all areas. The two are already archrivals on the smartphone market, both fighting for dominance at the high-end segment, and mobile payment is the latest area in which Samsung and Apple battle.
Both Apple and Samsung have made notable efforts toward improving and expanding their Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, respectively, and both are now racing to launch their mobile payments services at the same time in China.
Just shortly after Apple announced that it entered an agreement with China's UnionPay to bring its Apple Pay mobile payment service to the country, Samsung has now announced a similar deal with UnionPay to launch its own Samsung Pay in China.
Not only has Samsung secured the same UnionPay deal as Apple, but it also tapped the same rollout map. The launch of Samsung Pay in China is still pending testing and regulatory approval, but the mobile payment service will become available in early 2016 to UnionPay cardholders.
"With technological innovation, Samsung Pay expands the usage of mobile payments. It simplifies the procedure for better user experience, and adopts multi-layered protection to ensure security, allowing easier and safer mobile payment experiences," boasted Injong Rhee, Samsung Electronics EVP.
"The collaboration with China UnionPay, coupled with the support from major UnionPay partner banks in China, will bring this secure and easy-to-use mobile payment solution to more Samsung mobile users."
Striking deals with UnionPay is an essential step toward bringing any new type of mobile payment in China, as UnionPay is the country's bankcard association. With UnionPay agreements now in store, both Apple and Samsung can now launch their services in China, allowing users to rely on their mobile devices to manage their credit and debit cards and pay for purchases.
The Chinese New Year is on Feb. 8, and both Samsung and Apple plan to launch their respective mobile payment service by then. This means that Apple Pay and Samsung Pay will most likely become available in China sometime in January.
