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Poll results: NFC may be newer, but MST still looks to carry a lot of value

By Joe M.

Updated: Nov 04, 2016, 1:43 PM

28comments

Polls

Poll results: NFC may be newer, but MST still looks to carry a lot of value

Mobile payments may not be the most talked-about feature when it comes to smartphones, but there's no denying the convenience that they offer. Being able to go out and about and pay for your groceries and dinner with just your smartphone certainly is something straight out of the future, but as more and more phones come equipped with the tech that makes this possible, it's quickly becoming more of a reality with every day that passes.

The majority of mobile payment solutions use NFC to make the magic happen. Apple Pay and Android Pay are two of the most popular services out there for mobile payments, and they both exclusively use NFC for these payments to take place. NFC certainly is a pretty cool bit of tech, but in order for it to work when making a mobile payment, you need to make sure that the store or restaurant you're at has an NFC terminal that your phone can communicate with for the payment to go through. While the rise in popularity of Android and Apple pay has encouraged many more storefronts to get NFC terminals for their customers to use, there's another solution out there that exists.

When Samsung Pay launched last year with the Galaxy S6 line, Samsung tried something a bit different. Rather than relying on NFC for mobile payments, the company decided to use a mix of both NFC and MST technology. MST stands for Magnetic Secure Transmission, and it's the same tech found on the magnetic strip on your debit or credit card. Because of this, phones like the S6, S7, and Note 5 can be used to make payments at any store that has traditional terminals for debit and credit cards. This makes Samsung Pay much more widely available to use, and a recent report tipped us off that LG was working on implementing MST technology into their new mobile payment service that will supposedly launch with the LG G6.

This got us to thinking as to whether it was worth taking the time to implement MST tech into smartphones, or if OEMs should rely on the growth of NFC. We asked you what you thought, and the vast majority of our readers said that MST is something they'd like to see get added to more and more smartphones. The results can be found below, but if you didn't get a chance to participate in the poll, let us know your thoughts down in the comments!

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.