Samsung Pay upcoming changes to include location based coupons, select in-app purchases, online purchases with MasterPass, and expansion to three new markets
I absolutely love Samsung Pay - I have my credit card stored there and use it not only here in the US but also when I travel.
Context & Ripple Effects
This announcement lands one day after MasterCard wired MasterPass into Samsung Pay alongside Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet, which is what makes the new online-checkout capability possible at all. It also delivers on a promise from late 2015, when Samsung said it would bring online payments to US users and push the wallet onto cheaper phones.
The throughline across the coverage is a wallet steadily accumulating jobs: tested in South Korea in mid-2015, then PayPal support by 2018, then Travelex transfers and a Samsung Pay Cash virtual debit card in 2019. Location-based coupons and in-app purchases are the next layer in that stack.
First-order effects
- Samsung Pay users in supported markets can now receive location-triggered coupons and complete select in-app purchases without leaving the app, while MasterPass-linked cardholders get device-authenticated online checkout.
- Three additional markets join Samsung Pay's footprint, extending the reach Samsung has been building since its South Korea testing phase.
Second-order effects
- Rival wallets — Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet, both named in the same MasterCard integration — now compete against a service that bundles merchant offers with payment, pushing them toward their own coupon-and-offers layers.
- MasterCard gains a broader distribution channel for MasterPass as Samsung's market expansion multiplies the checkout endpoints carrying it.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile wallets consolidate identity, offers, and payment into a single permission layer that merchants must integrate with to reach buyers at the point of intent — shifting leverage from card-present infrastructure to whoever controls the wallet interface.
The trend: Mobile wallets are evolving from tap-to-pay utilities into full commerce platforms that bundle coupons, in-app checkout, and online payments as they expand geographically.