Samsung Pay & Android Pay Are Here!

Three mobile payment options to choose from.

If you haven’t yet tried it out, you’ve probably witnessed it happen by now.

You’re in the checkout line ready to pay for your items. The customer in front of you is finishing up. Meanwhile, you’re busy wondering if the store’s payment terminal is going to require you to swipe or insert your card.

Then, the customer in front of you simply places their phone up near the payment terminal. And just like that, the payment goes through! It took a total of three seconds. Much faster than it’s going to take you to insert your chip card and wait for it the payment method to be approved.

Promise & Potential

What I described above is the promise and potential the top three mobile payment providers are selling. All three of which, Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are now supported by Heartland Bank.

Using your smartphone to pay for purchases is surprisingly quick and very easy. It’s a bit crazy when you step back and realize we can now buy things with just our smartphone. Five to ten years ago, this was just a futuristic idea.

Mobile and digital purchases are growing in popularity and will continue to as more retailers update their payments terminals to support these payment methods. Unfortunately, the widespread adoption of these payments depends largely on the retailers’ support.

When making a purchase with your smartphone, you will quickly realize the experience can be a bit inconsistent or lacking. When it works, it works great. But some stores have not fully trained their employees on how to use this payment method. There are also stores that have chosen not to support the top three mobile payment platforms, in favor of their own app option (we’re looking at you Walmart).

So, is 2017 the year you can you actually ditch your wallet or purse and use just your smartphone for all of your in-person purchases? Not yet. There are still too many stores that don’t yet support digital payments or haven’t fully implemented it.

Samsung Pay Works at More Stores

One advantage Samsung Pay has over the other two is the implementation of Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) in its latest smartphones. This technology allows Samsung Pay to work on any swipe payment terminal that doesn’t require the card to be inserted to activate. The phone mimics the magnetic strip found on debit/credit cards. This means Samsung pay should work at many more retailers than Android Pay and Apple Pay.

Comparing Each Mobile Payment Option

The top three mobile payment options share a lot in common, but there are some differences. We've put together a comparison chart to show the details and differences of each payment platform.