Apple Pay may launch in India soon: How it is different from Google Pay and Samsung Pay

Tech giant Apple is said to be in talks with regulatory authorities and officials in India and it also plans to hold talks with the NPCI for the launch of its payment service, Apple Pay in the country, as per a Tech Crunch report. The company is eyeing an entrance into a massive market that is dominated by players like PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, reportedly met with bankers to discuss the development of a localised version of Apple Pay.

As per the report, the Indian version will be built on top of UPI.

The company also wants to allow users to scan QR codes with their inbuilt scanners in iPhones to make UPI transactions without using a separate app.

The company has proposed to the Indian authorities that Apple Pay could use iPhone’s Face ID for UPI authentication.

The launch date of the service is yet to be confirmed.

Apple Pay is currently available in over 80 countries worldwide.

Samsung Pay already has a head start over Apple as its Wallet service went live earlier this year. However, Samsung Pay was offered to customers in India in 2017, while Google Pay was launched as GPay in India in 2011.

Samsung Pay introduced the MST (Magnetic Secure Transaction) support for customers which is now dropped. Both Google and Apple do not have that support.

Google Pay provides interface features like splitting bills, filling out Google Chrome forms automatically and even send with notes

All three apps work similarly in that you store the details of your payment card or UPI to make transactions.

All three apps also include a digital wallet, and payments can be made through their smart wearables too.

Apple Pay may have an edge over the two other apps as it is easier to use. Since Apple has complete control over the hardware of the phone users can simply use their Face IDs or Touch IDs to authenticate payments. While Google Pay uses traditional PINs and fingerprint IDs for authentication.

Also, Apple explicitly declared that it will never track the user’s transactions for safety.

All systems also allow for contactless payment using near-field communication (NFC) technology.