Samsung is rolling out support for PayPal payments with Samsung Pay in the US after originally announcing the feature in July 2017
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google :
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung Pay has been building toward this since its September 2015 US launch on 2015 Galaxy flagships, when it was a card-only wallet tied to Bank of America, Citi, Amex and U.S. Bank issuers. The company flagged online checkout ambitions as early as its plan to let US users pay online with Samsung Pay, then added MasterPass-backed in-app and online purchases in October 2016.
The actual PayPal tie-up was announced last July, when Samsung Pay added PayPal as a payment method and PayPal's Braintree merchants gained Samsung Pay as a checkout option. Today's rollout makes that nine-month-old promise live for US users — notable because it turns Samsung's wallet from a card container into a multi-funding-source platform.
First-order effects
- US Samsung Pay users can now fund tap-to-pay transactions from their PayPal balance or linked accounts, not just bank-issued cards.
- Braintree merchants who enabled Samsung Pay checkout under the July arrangement finally have a live wallet to accept, closing the loop between the announcement and usable volume.
Second-order effects
- PayPal gains distribution inside an NFC wallet it does not operate, extending its reach beyond its own app and Braintree processing just as rival wallets compete for the same slot on the lock screen.
- Apple Pay and Android Pay face a wallet whose funding options are no longer card-exclusive, pushing them toward similar processor-mediated integrations to keep merchant checkout coverage comparable.
Third-order effects
- If wallets keep absorbing third-party funding sources through processors like Braintree, the durable structure is platform-interoperable checkout: the wallet becomes a routing layer over multiple payment rails rather than a card emulator, shifting leverage toward whoever controls the merchant-side integration.
The trend: Mobile wallets are evolving from closed card containers into multi-rail platforms, with processor networks like Braintree acting as the bridge between wallets and merchant checkout.