Samsung Pay availability grows in China with Alipay partnership

Samsung Pay, Samsung’s mobile payment option, is expanding in a big way in China thanks to a partnership with Alipay.

Specifically, Samsung has announced that it is teaming up with Ant Financial Services, which is owned by Alipay, to expand Samsung Pay throughout the region. For those who might not know, Alipay is the third-largest payment processing service in China, serving over 450 million users. It also means that Samsung Pay can now be used at over 600,000 additional retail stores in the country.

Using Alipay with Samsung Pay is going to be a bit different. To make it work, users will need to add their Alipay account into Samsung Pay, which will then work as a wallet service of its own. Using Alipay means you’ll need to select the option and then hold up your phone, which will show a QR code on the screen. The merchant will scan that code, and then the specific balance will be taken out of the Alipay account.

Samsung Pay officially launched in China back in March of this year thanks to another partnership with UnionPay. That launch saw Samsung Pay gain support for nine banks in the region, and with Alipay support, Samsung Pay’s reach in China is growing by a large margin.

You’ll need a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy Note 5, the Galaxy A5, Galaxy A7, or Galaxy A9 to use Samsung Pay with Alipay.

source: androidandme