The Galaxy S6 could be the debut of Samsung’s mobile payment system

At the very end of last year rumours spread that Samsung was planning on releasing its own mobile payment system to rival Apple Pay. Now a new rumour suggests that it’ll debut on the Galaxy S6, and it corroborates the existing rumour that it won’t rely on NFC for payments.

The system apparently uses technology by LoopPay, a system that has one killer advantage over the likes of Apple Pay: it’s compatible with existing checkout systems. That means it doesn’t require retailers to spend money on a contactless upgrade. Payment info is all stored on the phone and all you’ll have to do is hold your phone over the area where you would swipe a credit card for LoopPay  to do its thing.

Of course magnetic strip payments are rather insecure compared to the likes of Chip-and-PIN, but it is more than likely that Samsung will be adding a layer of security with a fingerprint scanner. That’s similar to the systems used by Apple Pay, and the PayPal payment system present in the Galaxy S5.

I discovered recently that a lot of places still don’t accept contactless payments, and even then there’s a spending limit of £20 per transaction. I can’t say for sure, but I hope that LoopPay-based payments would not have these issues because it’s using existing systems.

If the rumour is true we will likely find out a lot more when Samsung launches the Galaxy S6, presumably at Galaxy Unpacked in March.