Samsung allegedly in talks with LoopPay for mobile payments

With this system, people with certain Samsung phones will be enabled to pay in brick-and-mortar stores by waving their phones instead of swiping with a credit card or cash. Samsung’s new smartphone is expected to be announced in the first half of 2015.

The new system could position itself as Apple Pay’s competitor due to the similarities in the technology. Apple Pay users complete the purchase through an authentication process that involves pressing one’s finger against the fingerprint identification sensor built into the phone’s Home button and Samsung’s latest Galaxy phone also includes fingerprint identification technology, which would likely be incorporated into the new payments system.

LoopPay’s technology can wirelessly transmit the same information stored on a debit or credit card’s magnetic stripe to a store’s checkout equipment without swiping a card. The company has embedded the technology, which it calls magnetic secure transmission, into a few hardware products it sells directly to consumers. To complete a purchase, LoopPay users tap any of these devices near the spot on a store’s credit card terminal where a card is usually swiped.

Since the technology mimics a card swipe, it works in far more locations than Apple Pay or Google Wallet, which require a store to upgrade to equipment that includes a near field communication technology.

However, it is not yet clear if Samsung has reached a deal with LoopPay and a Samsung spokesman and LoopPay CEO Will Graylin declined to comment.

In recent news, LoopPay has launched a mobile payment product line.