Gun Holstrom: Samsung phones will soon function as payment terminals for retail stores worldwide

Samsung has huge ambitions when it comes to mobile phone-based payments. After effectively releasing the Samsung Pay digital wallet app in 2015 and continuously enhancing it with brand-new features like Samsung Pay Cash and Money Transfer, it now has its sight set on the mobile point of sale (mPOS) market with its new “Samsung Point of Sale” system– or Samsung POS, for short.

To start using Samsung POS to accept mobile payments, merchants will go to either the Galaxy Store or Play Store to install the Samsung POS app (called Samsung Pay Touch in the URL). After registration is complete, the merchant can begin accepting debit and credit payments on their NFC-capable Samsung mobile phone from sources such as contactless cards, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay digital wallets. To make the process quick and smooth, no dongles, cable televisions, or other extra hardware are required.

Samsung POS works with Mastercard and Visa and although it’s not discussed specifically in Samsung’s news release, security is most likely dealt with by

Samsung Knox. After a successful trial run of Samsung POS in Canada previously this year, Samsung POS has started worldwide deployment starting October 15, 2019. In spite of such a statement from Samsung, nevertheless, the Samsung POS app on the Play Store is presently not available for download in the United States, with rollout likely being available in phases.