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Samsung Electronics America announced early Tuesday it is rolling out a new peer-to-peer payments capability for its digital wallets in the United States. Called Tap to Transfer, the new feature will enable Samsung wallet users to send money to one another by tapping their phones.
Samsung wallet users can send money to another individual through a Visa Inc. or Mastercard Inc. branded debit card stored in their wallet and using NFC technology embedded in their phone. The process is similar to how contactless payments work at merchant locations.
The feature is like Apple Inc.’s Tap to Cash capabilities, which began rolling out last fall. Apple’s Tap to Cash is part of the Apple Cash digital wallet and is available on iPhones and Apple Watches running Apple’s iOS 18 operating system.
To differentiate its new peer-to-peer payment capabilities, Samsung is enabling Samsung wallet users to transfer money to people without a digital wallet as long as they have a physical debit card with tap-to-pay capabilities. Samsung enables this feature by connecting Samsung wallet to the chip in the recipient’s debit card.
Samsung is also making it possible for wallet users to send money to one another remotely. To initiate a payment, senders look up the recipient’s Samsung account by searching his or her phone number.
“Samsung Wallet is a powerful tool readily available on millions of Galaxy smart phones, and with this update, we’re taking the experience to the next level,” Drew Blackard, senior vice president of mobile product management for Samsung Electronics America, says in a statement. “Many users want the flexibility to accomplish their most frequent and important tasks on their mobile device.”
