Samsung Pay Expands Its Smartphone Touch

As the need for more secure login methods for mobile devices grows, so too does average consumers’ desires for a burdenless experience with their phones.

That’s why Samsung is looking heavily toward two of its more recent markets: mobile payments and biometrics.

According to anonymous sources from Samsung that spoke to The Korea Herald, biometric technology is set to be a standard feature on all of the company’s smartphone offerings in the near future. The same goes for its mobile payments service. Even low-budget phones could be shipped with fingerprint scanners, as well as pre-installed versions of Samsung Pay. Until now, Android Authority reported that Samsung had only implemented biometrics into its more expensive smartphones, such as the mid-range Galaxy A8.

Hwang Min-sung, an analyst for Samsung Securities, told The Korea Herald that the joint packaging of biometric security options and Samsung Pay could point to a renewed effort to promote the payment platform without worrying about scaling security concerns. The addition of more stringent security measures should help with Samsung Pay’s reputation as somewhat of an easy-to-breach platform, as Tod Beardsley, engineering manager at security consultant Rapid7, told Mashable.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love old tech,” Beardsley said. “Most hackers do. But pretty much anything that extends the practical usage life of magstripes [which Samsung’s MST tech does] is going to be hugely suspect.”

Out with the old and in with the new seems to be a philosophy for Samsung now, as Min-sung hinted at the possibility of high-end Tizen smartphones releasing in the near future, and the build and design of these devices almost certainly presupposes the inclusion of biometrics and Samsung Pay.

Especially in the smartphone world, brands can be anxious about falling behind competitors in any way imaginable, so if Samsung’s biometrics gamble pays off, expect other device developers to get in on the sensor action — and profits.