Android Pay Release Date & Features: Leak Reveals Wednesday Launch, Move To Overshadow Samsung Pay?

Apple has Apple Pay, Samsung has Samsung Pay, and Android, does not want to be the last in terms of mobile progress. Soon, the popular mobile operating system will also be launching their own Android Pay. There are speculations that their new mobile payment system will be released this week.

The report springs from leaked photos posted in Android Police. The photo was a notice to employees in McDonalds, which reminds managers and crews that customers with Samsung and Android devices will be able to use the following services: Samsung Pay and Android Pay on August 21 and August 26 respectively, when paying for their orders.

According to the report, Android Pay was announced at Google I/O three months ago, and Google said that the mobile payment will be available in the U.S. "later this year." Based on the McDonalds' announcement that these services will be available on the said dates, there are chances that the service could be available this week.

However, the report noted that the August 21 launch for Samsung Pay was not correct. The said date was for the launching of their devices Note5 and S6 Edge+.  Samsung Pay was released in Korea on August 20, a limited beta testing is available in the U.S. on August 25, but the platform is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on September 28, according to a separate report from Android Police. Thus, it will still be a month of waiting for Samsung users.

According to Forbes, unlike Apple Pay, Android Pay doesn't require the participation of retailers because the system uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to communicate with compatible terminals. If the retailer has this capability, then there will be no issues and the user can use the technology. The report suggests that Samsung Pay will never beat Android Pay in terms of total users because its supported phone base is small while Android Pay will work on any Android device with NFC.

As per PaymentsSource, Android Pay is more than a rebranding of Google Wallet. Some of its features include fingerprint recognition for authentication, simplicity as its primary focus are in-app and in-store payments, loyalty, rewards, etc. It is also tied to an Android and not to an app.

It is not yet confirmed if Android Pay will be released this Wednesday because the date is too close and Google usually schedules their new apps or updates on Wednesdays. The only thing users can do is to wait until the said date arrives to confirm this report.