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Samsung Pay, the mobile payment service launched by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. a year after Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay debuted, appears to be faring better with consumers despite Apple Pay’s higher adoption rate.
In its most recent Mobile Pay Tracker, New York-based Auriemma Consulting Group, found that 92% of Samsung Pay users reported higher levels of satisfaction, compared with 84% for Apple Pay. Samsung Pay, in addition to enable contactless payments in stores via near-field communication (NFC) technology, also allows users to make these payments with magnetic-stripe radio-field technology, which it labels Magnetic Secure Transmission.
“The majority of Samsung Pay users utilize other payment methods less since beginning with Samsung Pay,” said Marianne Berry, managing director of Auriemma’s Payment Insights practice, in a release. “No other mobile payment application can say that.”
The survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers found that Samsung Pay eligible consumers reported using the app for 22% of their discretionary spending, compared with 15% for Apple Pay, which trails credit card and cash spending.
Apple Pay, however, outpaces Samsung Pay in consumer adoption. Of eligible iPhone owners, 33% said they used Apple Pay. That surpasses the 23% adoption rate of those with Samsung Pay-capable smart phones.
Samsung Pay’s newness sparks more questions about acceptance at the point of sales—56% of them ask about it checkout compared with 42% of Apple Pay users.
Samsung Pay users tend to spend more with an average week, $82 compared with $75 for Apple Pay users. Fewer problems at the point of sale also await Samsung Pay users with 19% reporting difficulties, versus 31% for Apple Pay users. Part of discrepancy could be attributed to Samsung Pays contactless magnetic-stripe technology, which makes it available at many more merchants than just those with NFC readers, Berry said.
As the pool of Samsung Pay-capable devices increases, when coupled with the potentially greater merchant acceptance, “has the potential to more quickly convert its smart phone owners to Pay users,” Berry said.
