Samsung Launches Samsung Pay Mini in India with UPI and E-Wallet Support

Today, Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy J7 Max in India. This is the first device from Samsung that comes preloaded with the Mini-variant of Samsung Pay in India as Samsung looks to add more value addition to differentiate its devices from its competitors in the entry level and mid range price segments.

Samsung Pay Mini looks to enable digital payments on Samsung's affordable devices which do not qualify for the full-fledged Samsung Pay service functionality. Samsung Pay Mini can work on any Android device as long as it has an HD or higher resolution display and Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher, both of which are easily met requirements.

Samsung Pay Mini provides a platform for UPI and e-wallet solutions. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a payment system launched by the Government of India which facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts through a phone, smart or otherwise (through the use of USSD codes in case of feature phones).

The service differs from Samsung Pay as it loses out on the main differentiating functionality of the Samsung Pay service: MST swipe and pay. Since Pay Mini is intended for Samsung devices which do not sport the requisite hardware for MST usage, it naturally does not work at regular swiping machines for offline payments.

Samsung Pay Mini will have a difficult time carving a niche for itself in the Indian market. The beauty of the UPI platform is that many other banking as well as e-wallet solutions have emerged that make use of this service, thus giving Samsung Pay Mini stiff competition from the get-go. Pay Mini also does not come with its own 'wallet' which other e-wallet services offer, thus making this an inadequate solution from Samsung towards a market that is already dominated by popular options like PayTM and several others. UPI can work standalone as well, so there is very little that Samsung Pay Mini is offering for now.

Samsung's new payment method is launching in India with the new Galaxy J7 Max, and will be made available on select existing J-series devices shortly.

What are your thoughts on Samsung Pay Mini coming to India? What can Samsung do to truly improve the service and make it an essential app on Samsung devices? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Samsung Newsroom

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