Samsung is competing only with Apple, and the opposite. Of course, there are tons of other manufacturers, but only these two giants are able to change the world in terms of smart devices. Look, Apple launches the next iPhone, and Samsung comes with a new Galaxy S handset. Apple launches its smartwatch, Samsung announces the Gear S. I think this battle will last for ages. My guess work has been proven this morning, when I met an announcement claiming the Samsung Gear S3 will support MST.
Those who are not aware of what MST is, it’s a technology that sends a magnetic signal from a compatible device to the payment terminal’s card reader. MST support makes the Samsung Pay to be competitive to the Apple Pay. Unlike the last, the Samsung Pay and its MST technology (Magnetic Secure Transmission) is used at many retailers that already use magnetic strip tech at their PoS terminals. However, those point-of-sale don’t need to be upgraded, if they have chosen to support NFC. Comparing to NFC this technology do not require the merchant to upgrade the payment terminal. And we can say this is the only difference, but Samsung Pay uses both NFC and MST to send payment information to the terminal. We can also say both technologies are equally secure, as only your bank and the card’s payment network will be able to access info on a transaction.
As for the Samsung’s forthcoming smartwatch, the Gear S3, it is now confirmed (though unofficially) it will support MST. This device is set to be announced on August 31 in Berlin before the opening of IFA2016. Currently only a few Samsung devices support this technology – the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Active, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Active, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 5, and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. So once the Gear S3 is available it will be the next device supporting MST, thus this technology gets more chances to outrun Apple Pay.
