Mobile wallet or digit wallet is an online service which allows the user to make electronic transactions, this can be used for transaction purposes like payment of bills, purchasing items online or offline, sending money to anyone. This can be accomplished by linking the user’s bank account with wallet. However, it is important that the wallet support the bank or card type.
According to the RBS World Payments Report 2015, the total electronic payment is around 389 billion per year which is roughly 1.06 billion transactions per day. With such a huge amount of payments daily it is natural that growth of mobile wallets has attracted the developers.
Thus we have brought a detailed article in which we are going to compare these two digital wallets along with the compatibility and availability of these wallets in different countries.
Table of Contents
Android Pay
Android Pay also known as Google Pay ( G Pay or Pay with Google ) is a digital wallet developed by Google which came into existence on September 11 2015, as Android pay and later on January 8 2018, Android Pay was rebranded and renamed as Google Pay. After rebranded service provided a new API that allows the user to add and link there details to apps, websites, stripe, Braintree, and Google Assistance.
Google Pay use NFC ( Near Field Communication ) to transmit the card details which results as a fund transfer to the receiver. It is similar to contactless payment with the added security of two-step verification. Google Pay also allows the user to add additional security by adding a lock or password. The physical presence of the user is used as an advantage, Fingerprint authentication can be used as verification.
Google Pay doesn’t send the card details of the user instead it generates a virtual account number by which security of users card is ensured. Just in case if any user misplaces his/her device then the user can use Android Device Manager to disable any further transaction from Google Pay or lock his/her device.
Google is one of the cheapest services with a maximum transaction limit of 9,999 $ ( US Dollar ) per day, with no additional service cost. There is no card limit on Google Pay. Users can use payments card service by entering the card information. Google Pay improves the payment feature by adding the ” Pay button “.
Supported Countries ( Jan 2019 )
Green indicates where google pay is available.
| COUNTRY NAME | RELEASE DATE |
| United States | September 11, 2015 |
| United Kingdom | May 18, 2016 |
| Singapore | June 27, 2016 |
| Australia | July 13, 2016 |
| Hong Kong | October 20, 2016 |
| Poland | November 17, 2016 |
| New Zealand | December 1, 2016 |
| Ireland | December 7, 2016 |
| Japan | December 13, 2016 |
| Belgium | March 7, 2017 |
| Russia | May 23, 2017 |
| Canada | May 31, 2017 |
| Taiwan | June 1, 2017 |
| Spain | July 26, 2017 |
| Ukraine | November 1, 2017 |
| Brazil | November 14, 2017 |
| Czech Republic | November 14, 2017 |
| Slovakia | February 28, 2018 |
| Germany | June 26, 2018 |
| Croatia | July 31, 2018 |
|
India
(Tez release date August 17, 2017) | August 28, 2018 |
| Italy | September 19, 2018 |
| Denmark | October 30, 2018 |
| Finland | October 30, 2018 |
| Norway | October 30, 2018 |
| Sweden | October 30, 2018 |
| United Arab Emirates | November 14, 2018 |
| Chile | November 27, 2018 |
| France | December 11, 2018 |
| South Korea | Announced from 2018 (Not yet released) |
Supported Network ( Jan 2019 )
- Visa / Visa Debit / Visa Electron
- MasterCard / Debit MasterCard
- American Express
- Discover
- Diners Club
- JCB
- Maestro
- PayPal in US, Germany
- Rupay in India
- Unified Payments Interface ( UPI )
- Edy ( Stored value card in Japan )
- nanco ( Stored value card in Japan )
- EFTPOS in Australia
- Interac in Canada
Till now these are some countries where Google Pay is available and these are some networks which are accepted in Google Pay. Google Pay is available in 29 countries ( Not including South Korea ) which is more than Samsung Pay. Android users can download Google Pay from here. iOS users can download Google Pay from here.
Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay is also a digital wallet introduced by Samsung Electronics on August 20 2015, launched in South Korea, which allows users to make payments using compatible devices and other Samsung manufactured devices.
This wallet support both NFC bases payment and also magnetic stripes, which is accomplished by using the technology called magnetic secure transmission (MST). Samsung Pay uses NFC technology to process payments like tap-to-pay terminals. Which makes payment more optionally, secured, and fast. Samsung Pay can be opened on any Samsung devices by swiping from the bottom of the screen. There is no limit on card loading in Samsung Pay.
Samsung has made some minor changes in some selective countries to provide more additional features for those countries users. For example in India Samsung Pay support government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and also allows the Bharat Bill Payment System. Adding into this, Samsung Pay in mainland China supports In-app Payment, QR Payments (WeChat Pay and AliPay) and public transportation in many sites like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and other cities. In South Korea, Samsung Pay can be used for online payment and even withdrawal of money can be done in selective banks. Also in Hong Kong, Samsung Pay can be linked with Octopus card using which user can make online and offline payments.
Samsung Knox and ARM TrustZone technologies are used as security measures in Samsung Pay. Every Payment must be authenticated using Fingerprint scan, Password or Iris Scan (Depends on Samsung device Model). For security purpose, Samsung Pay payments are converted in tokens by which user details are secured. There are many other security measures which can be added by the users. Mainly there are no charges for transactions on Samsung Pay.
Samsung made a deal with Visa after which Samsung Pay can be used in more than 350,000 retailer websites. Samsung Pay also has its own reward points which later can be redeemed like gift card.
As such there is no transaction limit in Samsung Pay, but transaction over 35$ are verified.
Supported Countries (Jan 2019)
| Country Name | Release Date |
| South Korea | August 20, 2015 |
| United States | September 28, 2015 |
| China | March 29, 2016 |
| Spain | June 2, 2016 |
| Australia | June 15, 2016 |
| Singapore | June 16, 2016 |
| Puerto Rico | July 13, 2016 |
| Brazil | July 19, 2016 |
| Russia | September 28, 2016 |
| Canada | November 8, 2016 |
| Thailand | February 8, 2017 |
| Malaysia | February 24, 2017 |
| India | March 22, 2017 |
| Sweden | April 27, 2017 |
| United Arab Emirates | April 27, 2017 |
| United Kingdom | May 16, 2017 |
| Switzerland | May 23, 2017 |
| Taiwan | May 23, 2017 |
| Hong Kong | May 25, 2017 |
| Vietnam | September 28, 2017 |
| Belarus | November 15, 2017 |
| Mexico | January 30, 2018 |
| Italy | March 22, 2018 |
| France | April 26, 2018 |
| South Africa | August 21, 2018 |
There are total 25 countries in which Samsung Pay is available which is less than Google Pay or Android Pay. Also, Samsung Pay is not available on Every Android device which makes the availability of Samsung Pay even less. Furthermore, Samsung Pay is not available on every Samsung devices.
Compatible devices (Jan 2019)
Galaxy S
- Samsung Galaxy S6
- Samsung Galaxy S7
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Samsung Galaxy S9
Galaxy Note
- Samsung Galaxy Note 5
- Samsung Galaxy Note FE
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Galaxy A
- Samsung Galaxy A5, A7, A8, A9, A9 Pro (all 2016) and A9(2018)
- Samsung Galaxy A3, A5, A7 (all 2017)
- Samsung Galaxy A8, A8+, A8 Star (all 2018)
Galaxy J
- Samsung Galaxy J5 & J7 (2016)
- Samsung Galaxy J5 / J5 Pro (2017)
- Samsung Galaxy J7 / J7 Pro (2017)
- Samsung Galaxy J7 Max (2017)
Galaxy C and others
- Samsung Galaxy C5 and C5 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy C7 and C7 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy C9 and C9 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy On5 (2016)
- Samsung Galaxy On7 (2017)
- Samsung W2017
- Samsung W2018
Smartwatches
- Samsung Gear S2 (NFC only)
- Samsung Gear S3 (NFC and MST)
- Samsung Gear Sport
- Samsung Watch (NFC only)
These are the Samsung devices in which Samsung Pay is Compatible and few Samsung Smart wears. However, there are few devices which can support Samsung Pay mini. If you want to setup Samsung Pay visit here, And if you are looking for how to use Samsung Pay then visit here.
