Samsung has launched its mobile wallet service Samsung Pay in Kazakhstan.
The service is now commercially available after six weeks of beta testing, and is compatible with Mastercard and Visa accounts. Kazakhstan is Samsung Pay’s first new market since March 2019, when the service was launched in Indonesia. Before this, the previous launch was in August 2018.
The slowdown in launches was surprising given that the service was launched in 20 markets across its first three years, following its initial launch in 2015. Samsung’s rival Apple has shown no such slowdown, with its Apple Pay service debuting in 24 markets during 2019 – taking its footprint to almost double that of Samsung’s offering.
Much like Samsung Pay, Google’s mobile wallet offering only launched in one market during 2019. However, Google Pay gained substantial traction from 2017-2018 and is present in more markets than Samsung Pay.
