After a quick month in an invite-only beta program, Samsung Pay is now available for everyone in the U.S. with a supported device. That means you'll need to have a Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ or Note 5 to take advantage of the new mobile payment system.
Further, it'll have to be a phone from a supported U.S. carrier (sorry, no international phones at this point)— at the official launch that means you'll need to be on Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile or U.S. Cellular (you may notice Verizon missing from that list). Once you have those two qualifications met, the next thing you'll need is a debit or credit card from a supported bank. At launch Samsung Pay supports VISA, MasterCard and American Express cards from Bank of America, Citi or U.S. Bank — and of course Samsung is working hard to expand the number of supported banks.
If you meet the requirements, it really is worth giving Samsung Pay a try. It works with NFC payment readers just like its competitors from Google and Apple, but importantly can also make payments at traditional card swipe machines using Samsung's proprietary MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) tech. Just hold the phone where you'd normally swipe your card, and you've paid.
Further, Samsung is also announcing that Samsung Pay will work on Square card readers, opening up the possibilities for using Samsung Pay at all of the smaller local retailers that often use that portable payment system.
If you're ready to get going with Samsung Pay and have a supported phone, just make sure you have the latest software update from your carrier and you'll have the app ready to install in your app drawer. After that, read up on all of our Samsung Pay coverage:
- This is how the Samsung Pay process works
- Read the latest Samsung Pay news
- What's the difference between Android Pay and Samsung Pay?
- Given the choice, should I use Android Pay or Samsung Pay?
- Join the discussion in our Samsung Pay forums!
