Samsung And Union Pay Partner Up For Payments

Samsung is making its NFC payment move in China, in a deal with UnionPay, China’s largest payment card firm.

“The Shanghai-based card company said UnionPay’s NFC payment system can be used by more than 3.6 million Samsung smartphones in China, including the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy S4. Samsung is the first company to cooperate for NFC payment service with UnionPay,” ZDNet reported. “UnionPay users can immediately use NFC features of their Samsung phones after they save card information through mobile applications.”

This deal could hand Samsung quite a few Chinese payments, given that UnionPay’s marketshare of offline payments is about 80 percent, the story said.

A story in the Yonhap News Agency said the deal could move beyond China. “UnionPay operates some 3.6 million NFC payment support readers in the country. If UnionPay forms alliances with South Korean credit card companies, Chinese nationals will be able to use NFC services when they purchase goods and services in South Korea,” it reported.