The Samsung Pay app is live in the Google Play store in South Africa.

Although the service does not appear to be active, it displayed a page which stated that Standard Bank will be a local launch partner.

Samsung Pay is an application which lets you store bank card details on a device, and pay merchants by tapping or “swiping” your smartphone rather than a physical bank card.

The app lets you make payments via Magnetic Secure Transmission, which mimics the magnetic stripe on the back of your card.

It can also use NFC in contactless cards for “tap-and-go” payments.

Early access

Earlier this year, the CEO of Samsung Africa, Sung Yoon, said the company plans to launch Samsung Pay in South Africa in June 2018.

This statement proved to be too ambitious, as Samsung Pay is not yet available to the public. However, Samsung has been conducting a closed test of the app.

When the app didn’t launch in June, a MyBroadband reader contacted Samsung and was informed by a support agent that Samsung Pay will launch in South Africa during August.

Samsung told MyBroadband that Samsung Pay was still in a closed beta test, and said it planned to launch an open beta in the week of 30 July 2018.

Once the open beta has started, Samsung will be able to set a firm launch date for Samsung Pay in South Africa.

The aim is to officially launch by late August or early September, but it depends on the feedback from the testing, said Samsung.

An early access programme, which Samsung refers to as its open beta in South Africa, is in line with the company’s approach in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and India, where early adopters helped test Samsung Pay and iron out potential issues before launch.

Devices and launch partners

Earlier today, launching the Samsung Pay app would open a “work in progress” webpage, which listed details about the supported devices, and confirmed a launch partner – Standard Bank.

The company confirmed to MyBroadband that Samsung Pay will support the following devices when it launches: Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9 and S9+, Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Galaxy A8 (2018), Galaxy A7 (2017 and newer), and the Galaxy A5 (2017 and newer).

The information in the app stated it will support Standard Bank Mastercard credit and cheque cards, and that debit cards will be supported soon.

Samsung said it could not comment on the launch partners of Samsung Pay in South Africa.

The Samsung Pay app no longer redirects to this webpage, however, shown in the screenshots below.