Samsung is following Apple’s lead by testing the ground for a Canadian launch of its mobile payments service, Samsung Pay. While it is not officially available yet, Samsung has decided to give “early access” to some Canadian users who own a Samsung Galaxy S6 or later device and are CIBC customers (via MobileSyrup).
The early access, which can be considered a public trial of the payments service, is available starting today, and CIBC is the first bank in Canada to support it. To start using Samsung Pay, you’ll need to download the app from the Galaxy Apps store, but first you’ll need to register to get a download link.
There are some limitations, though: You need an eligible Visa credit card to be able to pay with your Samsung smartphone, CIBC MasterCard or US dollar Visa, and Prepaid Visa cards won’t work, SamMobile notes.
Apparently, Samsung won’t limit its payments service to the NFC terminals deployed in Canada, as it owns a technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission, or MST, which essentially eliminates the need for NFC terminals and enables Samsung Pay-ready devices to make a payment at terminals where buyers normally swipe their credit or debit cards.
Will that MST technology and the convenience it promises make you switch platforms to pay with your mobile phone?
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finally some good news for Canadians from Android stand point
make my buying decision even difficult S7 or Pixel
Pixel hands down from what I’ve heard
The nice this is now that Android Pay is in Canada, if you have a Samsung phone you can switch between the two services. Android Pay accepts more banks and Samsung Pay has MST (mag stripe).
Is there a $100 limit like we have on applepay
I don’t think Apple Pay has a 100$ limit. I think it’s the terminals that limit transactions over 100$. I got to Pharmaprix (Shoppers) and make 100$ purchases frequently with no issue.
Shoppers rejected my >$200 Apple Pay purchase last month.
Though to be fair, if the system can’t tell the difference between basic RFID cards and the much more secure Apple Pay, I’m glad they’re not blindly accepting large tap transactions.
Is it going to explode if purchase exceeds 100 dollar limit?
Lol
I use Apple Pay with CIBC and my Visa, yet I can not add my Visa CC (US Dollar) card… 🙁
Yet the Samsung Pay accepts a US Dollar Visa… What’s up with that?
Apple Pay FTW!!
Apple Pay is usually limited to $100 because that’s the limit that banks set on tap purchases. I would be weary to use the magnetic swipe feature. There’s already talks about the removal of the stripe from credit cards because it is insecure. At least Apple Pay has a tokenization system.
Samsung Pay uses tokenization too. As long as the credit card terminal supports mag stipe, you can use Samsung Pay with it (it won’t ask you to insert your chip). Samsung does not sent the card number when you use MST, like a normal card does, so it is secure to use.
Well, good! 🙂