In many respects, the payment system works similarly to Samsung Pay, Android Pay, and Apple Pay. It uses NFC for wireless transmission of payment information via smartphones and aims to eliminate the use of physical cards.
Mi Pay will allow you to store your card details - be it credit, debit, loyalty, gift or membership card details - into your smartphone thus removing the need to carry physical cards. Payments can be done by hovering the NFC-enabled smartphone over a compatible reader at the retail outlet.
Currently, the only Xiaomi smartphone in the market that supports NFC is the Mi 5, however, the company is expected to announce the rollout of Mi 5 soon.
Xiaomi has also announced a host of banks that already support Mi Pay. The list includes China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, Ping An Bank, and Industrial Bank. More banks such as Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank, China Everbright Bank, Beijing Bank, and Guangdong Development Bank will be added next month.
Xiaomi will compete with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay which are already live in China.
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