Huawei Pay is the first digital payment service provided by a Chinese smartphone manufacturer. It launched on August 31 after Huawei announced an alliance with China’s state-owned bankcard association, China UnionPay, earlier this year. It is currently available on Huawei Mate S, Huawei Honor V8, Huawei Honor 8, with support from 25 Chinese banks.
Transactions can be made when a smartphone is placed against a “QuickPass” signed POS machine, regardless of whether the screen is on or off. In addition, every payment requires fingerprint authentication from the card holder.
To protect customer’s confidential data, Huawei has installed a number of security features on their devices – including a security chip, fingerprint sensor, trusted execution environment (TEE) and near-field communication (NFC) technology.
China’s electronic payment market has been growing at a consistent rate, although Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Wallet still dominate the market.
While UnionPay introduced contactless communication years ago, the convenience of the QR code payment methods utilized by Alipay and WeChat Wallet means that vendors have been reluctant to install NFC technology, which requires installation of a specific SIM card.
Early this year, the partnership between UnionPay and Apple Pay changed the situation. Chinese customers, especially those from big cities, are increasingly interested in Apple Pay because of Apple’s brand value. This alliance has helped pave the way for China’s major smartphone manufacturers – Huawei and Xiaomi – to enter the fold.
[Image via China Business News]
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