Samsung Pay might start charging a fee to tackle Apple Pay

If the latest reports are to be believed, Samsung might turn its Samsung Pay service into a paid service. This would be to take on Apple Pay, which is set to enter the South Korean market soon.

Financial authorities have said that Apple Pay fees of 0.1% and 0.15% can be imposed not only on consumers and stores but they can also be imposed on credit card companies. Apparently, Apple and Samsung will impose payment fees on them, along with other payment providers. Naver Pay and Kakao Pay will eventually follow this as a new business model.

While Samsung is yet to comment on Apple Pay’s arrival in South Korea, going by the metrics, Samsung Pay might lose a good number of its user base in the country. Samsung Pay is the largest digital card payment service in South Korea, thanks to its Galaxy smartphones. It debuted in August 2015 and now has a 16 million user base, with a cumulative payment is approximately KRW 182 trillion (approx $139.8 billion).

Apple Pay could launch very soon in South Korea in collaboration with Hyundai

The NFC technology used by Apple Pay is based on the EMV Contactless standard by Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. All the South Korean credit card companies that will be providing Apple Pay services must pay both the EMV fee of 1% and the Apple Pay fee. Samsung Pay supports both magnetic support transmission and NFC, and it has been available for free since its inception. It only charges the service initiation fee.

According to an industry source, “Samsung Electronics has run the free service in order to increase and retain Galaxy smartphone users, but Apple Pay is changing the market, and Samsung Electronics may consider charging.” Apple will be collaborating with South Korean credit card company Hyundai to bring Apple Pay to its customers in the country. There is no information on when Apple Pay support will begin, but it is touted as ‘very soon.’