Technology

To compete with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay may begin to impose fees

The tech firm Apple has announced that it is soon going to introduce Apple Pay in South Korea. Such a strategy by Apple could result in some modifications to the Samsung Pay service. Some recent reports indicate that Samsung might consider providing the Samsung Pay service against a monthly fee.

According to financial authorities, Apple may charge a fee of 0.1% and 0.15%. It will be levied on consumers as well as stores. Additionally, it will be implicated in credit card companies. Such modifications would impose payment fees by both tech companies i.e., Samsung and Apple. It will also aid to pave such methodology by other payment providers like Naver Pay and Kakao Pay.

Besides this, the South Korean conglomerate is yet to share its feedback on Apple Pay’s arrival in its native town. Since the pay service by Samsung is the largest digital card payment service in the country. It has a user base of around 16 million. Initially, Samsung pay was introduced in August 2015. It consists of a cumulative payment of around KRW 182 trillion (approx $139.8 billion).

Typically, Apple Pay uses NFC technology. It relies on EMV Contactless standards [Europay, MasterCard, and Visa]. In this perspective, the companies in South Korea that adopt Apple Pay will be required to pay an EMV fee as well as Apple Pay Fee. Where EMV charges a 1% fee. On the other hand, Samsung Pay supports both magnetic support transmission as well as NFC. Since its initial release, it is providing free services. Samsung pay only charges its consumers a service initiation fee.

An industry source claims that Samsung has adopted this strategy in order to retain its consumer base. With the arrival of Apple pay, the situation might change. Apple is going to partner with Hyundai [credit card company] in order to introduce its service in the country. As of now, there is no information on when Apple will begin providing its services.