Apple recently launched its new line-up of iPhones, which are set to launch in South Africa soon.<\/p>\n
The Apple iPhone Xs and Xs Max will be available in South Africa from 28 September, while the iPhone Xr will begin shipping on 26 October.<\/p>\n
While Apple fans might be tempted to upgrade to these devices, they still lack a key feature which is becoming increasingly useful to smartphone owners in South Africa \u2013 mobile payments.<\/p>\n
Payment apps like SnapScan and Zapper are supported by the iPhone, but these are not nearly widely-available enough to allow you to leave your wallet at home.<\/p>\n
This is where Samsung has the advantage over its competitor.<\/p>\n
Following the recent launch of Samsung Pay in South Africa, customers who own supported Samsung devices can make purchases using their smartphone at almost every POS terminal in the country.<\/p>\n
Apple Pay is the competitor to Samsung Pay internationally, but it is not available in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Samsung Pay<\/strong><\/p>\n The Samsung Pay platform currently supports bank cards from Standard Bank and Absa, and Samsung is working with other South African banks to add support for their customers.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s rollout of emerging digital payment infrastructure lags behind that of major international markets, but Samsung is in a unique position to account for the needs of local buyers.<\/p>\n Like other mobile payment apps, Samsung Pay makes use of Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to enable \u201ctap-and-go\u201d payments with your phone, sending tokenized, encrypted card data wirelessly to a compatible machine.<\/p>\n However, these compatible machines are not widespread enough across the country to be a reliable payment platform on their own.<\/p>\n This is where Samsung\u2019s cutting-edge technology steps in to turn the platform into a reliable and powerful payment method.<\/p>\n In addition to NFC, Samsung Pay also used Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), a technology which uses dedicated hardware inside supported smartphones to create magnetic fields and mimic the field of a conventional magstripe card.<\/p>\n This allows you to tap your Samsung smartphone against any payment terminal which can read a standard card swipe and pay for your purchase.<\/p>\n Payment information is sent through the magnetic signal and remains secure throughout the transaction, thanks to tokenization technology developed by Mastercard and Visa.<\/p>\n The support for MST is what makes Samsung Pay the most effective smartphone payment app in South Africa, giving it an edge over the competition and offering impressive value to locals who want to buy a Samsung device.<\/p>\n Samsung Pay is available for download from the\u00a0Google Play Store<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and is compatible with a range of Samsung smartphones \u2013 including the Galaxy Note 9, S9 and S9+, and the A8.<\/p>\n
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