Last week, the South Korean giant made an announcement that Samsung Pay will be launched in the US on September 28th. Samsung users in the US must be very excited by this news and would be eagerly waiting for the service to launch. Verizon subscribers will not be able to use the service as Verizon is not supporting Samsung Pay.

The Samsung Support USA confirmed it in a tweet, in which a link to the official Samsung Pay website does not list Verizon as the service’s supporters. However, competitors of Verizon such as T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T will support the service. So, Verizon is not supporting Samsung Pay for now.

Do retail stores need to install particular machines for using Samsung Pay?

The new service by Samsung is designed to work with existing “tap-and-go terminals” that use NFC (near field communication) technology, just like Apple Pay, which is popular in the UK. But, Samsung Pay also works with magnetic stripe readers, which are popular in Asia and the United States.

This is possible due to a proprietary technology developed by the company called MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission.)

Thomas Ko, Vice president of Samsung Pay, told the BBC:

“Rather than swiping the card, which normally transmits the data, we are using electronic signals [made by alternating current through] coils inside the phone to send the signal over. So, from the machine’s perspective it is actually receiving the same amount of information that it would from a magnetic reader.”

What is the reason that Verizon is not supporting Samsung Pay?

The reason that Verizon is not supporting Samsung Pay is not clear. But, it is possible that in the future Verizon may change its decision, but for now, its subscribers can only wait for that moment. It is said that Samsung may not be collecting a fee for usage of Samsung Pay.