Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay: Which One Is More Convenient And Has A Higher Penetration Rate?

It's been awhile since mobile payment became the in-thing in the e-commerce sphere across all the major markets. 

But when Apple Pay was first introduced alongside iPhone's Touch ID sensor, the bar was obviously raised higher for all the other stakeholders in the industry.

That's hardly a matter of surprise, though. After all, Apple has always been a company that loves to set global trends which, in turn, helps the company in enacting billion dollar industries around them. 

This is precisely what the Cupertino-based iDevice maker seems to by trying in the US and elsewhere with apple Pay.

To add more to its charm, Apple is bringing Apple Pay compatibility to some of its older devices including the likes of iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S and so on. There's a catch, though. In order to access the service, these devices will require the Apple Watch.

If that strategy goes as per plan, it could definitely lead to a big boost in the sales of Apple Watch.

Meanwhile, Samsung has also rolled out its mobile payment platform dubbed Samsung Pay. The service was initially made available only in the Galaxy-maker's home turf. However, it is expanding to other parts of the globe including UK, Spain and a number of other countries.

More details will be provided regarding this at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona during Feb. 22 to 25.

When it comes to terminal payments, Apple Pay is currently compatible with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models. Apart from that, iPad Mini 3 and iPad Air 2 users will also be able to use the service for in-app purchases.

As already mentioned above, older devices will also be able to access the service provided that they have an active connection with the Apple Watch.

Compared to that, Samsung Pay is currently available only in Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

Both services are supported by all the major card issuers including Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Samsung Pay's MTS support gives it a big boost. NFC penetration so far has been relatively low across the world as compared to the MTS which is available pretty much everywhere.

While Apple Pay is currently supported by around 200,000 stores, Samsung Pay's MTS compatibility has ensured that it has a much larger reach.