Samsung Wallet Unveiled as Company’s Rival to Apple Wallet

Image: Samsung

Samsung today announced the launch of Samsung Wallet, a new platform that combines and adds to the functionality of its pre-existing Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass services.

With Samsung Wallet, Galaxy users will be able to store and organize payment cards, loyalty and membership cards, digital keys, boarding passes, digital identification cards, and more.

Given the addition of digital ID support, Samsung likely designed this new platform to better compete with Apple Wallet. Apple announced support for digital driver’s licenses and state IDs in iOS 15 last year, and the feature finally made its debut in Arizona last month.

The South Korean consumer technology giant touts ease of use and top-notch security as the highlights of Samsung Wallet.

“Samsung Wallet is bringing a new level of everyday convenience to mobile devices with a totally safe and secure environment for storing digital keys, cards and more,” said Jeanie Han, EVP and Head of Digital Life, MX Business at Samsung Electronics.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to open ecosystems, we will continue to expand on the capabilities of Samsung Wallet by working closely with our trusted partners and developers.”

Samsung Wallet boasts one-swipe access to a user’s payment cards and more, defence-grade security backed by Samsung Knox, and real-time monitoring of cryptocurrency exchanges. Since the app also succeeds Samsung Pass, it can securely store passwords and facilitate expedited logins.

Image: Samsung

In addition, Samsung Wallet comes with SmartThings integration and support for smart home and transportation access. Users can add and use digital home keys for locking and unlocking their doors and digital automobile keys to control their cars (only available on select BMW, Genesis, and Hyundai models), all via the app.

The app can also store boarding passes, a feature that is currently limited to Korean Air flights.

Image: Samsung

Support for digital IDs isn’t available in the app right now and is expected to land “later this year.”

Samsung Wallet starts rolling out today to Galaxy users in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany (June 17), Italy, and Spain. There is no mention of Canada, yet. The feature requires Samsung Pay-enabled Galaxy phones running Android 9 Pie or later.

Users in eligible regions can simply open the Samsung Pay or Samsung Pass app on a supported Galaxy device, and they will be prompted to update and migrate to Samsung Wallet.

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