We exclusively reported two months ago that Samsung Pay is going to be launched in India in the first half of 2017. A new report published today reiterates what we already told you a couple of months ago so that's not news to us. However, it does reveal one interesting bit of information related to the launch of Samsung's mobile payments service in India.
Samsung recently started teasing the launch of Samsung Pay in India. The latest Galaxy Note 5 update released in the country features the Samsung Pay app which is a big indication that things are moving along nicely and that the payments service will go live in the country soon.
Citing a person familiar with the matter, the report claims that Samsung has picked American Express as its launch partner for India. It also mentions that Samsung might be exploring opportunities with Visa and MasterCard as well, undoubtedly the giants of the card industry.
Samsung has worked with all major card companies in the different markets where it has already launched Samsung Pay. In some markets, it started out with just American Express and in others it went ahead with both Visa and MasterCard.
Even though India is a huge market for Samsung, the reach of its mobile payments service will be limited given that it only works with a handful of premium (expensive) devices such as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 series as well as the Galaxy Note 5. Counterpoint research notes that there are more than 2.5 million of these devices being used in India so while it's a respectable install base, Samsung Pay may only see true growth in India when the hardware required to make it work trickles down to more affordable handsets.
