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Poll: Is MST a necessity or luxury when it comes to mobile payments?

By Joe M.

Updated: Oct 31, 2016, 11:45 AM

18comments

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Poll: Is MST a necessity or luxury when it comes to mobile payments?

In late 2016, there are plenty of various mobile payment services to choose from. Android and Apple Pay are easily the two biggest and most popular choices out there, but Samsung has also done quite a lot to make a name for themselves with Samsung Pay that first debuted on the Galaxy S6 line last year. The reason for that? Samsung Pay uses a combination of NFC and MST.

With Android and Apple Pay, the services are limited to using just NFC - Near Field Communications. In order for these services to work, you need to make sure that the store you're at has an NFC terminal so that you can use your phone to pay. With Samsung Pay on the other hand. the service uses a combination of both NFC and MST - Magnetic Secure Transmission. MST is the kind of tech you find with traditional debit and credit card readers, meaning that you can use your phone to pay with Samsung Pay even if you're at a store that doesn't have an NFC reader.

With that being said though, MST is a much older solution than NFC, and as Android and Apple Pay become more and more popular, more and more stores are adding NFC terminals so that they can hop on the mobile payment bandwagon. With the recent news though that LG will be including MST technology in the upcoming LG G6 with their own mobile payment system, it got us to thinking. Is just an NFC chip in a phone enough for an enjoyable experience when using mobile payments, or do you need a combo of both NFC and MST?

Is NFC enough on its own, or do you need it in conjunction with MST when using your phone as a payment solution?

NFC is being adopted at a fast enough rate and MST is obsolete

18.96%

It's worth the added time and money to add MST tech to smartphones

81.04%

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Joe Maring, a reviewer and tech news writer at PhoneArena, specializes in thorough analyses and updates on cutting-edge mobile technology, helping readers stay informed about the latest trends and product features in the rapidly evolving smartphone market.