Smartphones are making paying for the things we want even easier

Payments are one of the big new features coming to smartphones over the next few years, and they’re going to make our lives even easier.
 

The pitch is simple – especially in London where most people always have their smartphone in their hand. Now you can use that mobile device to pay for things at the checkout.
 

Mobile payments really kicked off in July with the arrival of Apple Pay on Apple’s latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but the ability to use mobile payments on the high street is going to start spreading to new smartphones rapidly.
 

Retailers are already jumping on board this new technology. Whether you’re popping into Starbucks for a coffee or Tesco for some shopping, you can use your iPhone to pay by pressing it against the contactless card reader.
 

Now most people, even lots of our older customers, are already using contactless bank cards to pay. But many don't realise just how easy it is to use their smartphone instead.
 

And it’s not only ease of use, mobile payments are even more secure than contactless payments or even chip and PIN.
 

With Apple Pay you're using your thumbprint to approve the payment with Touch ID on iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. Your finger has to physically be pressed against the phone to make a payment.
 

With contactless bank cards, there’s always been the worry that a card could be taken from a bag or wallet and used to make fraudulent payments.
 

We’ve even seen a whole industry of signal blocking wallets and cardholders that has popped up to defend against this kind of fraud. 
 

Now with mobile payments we've had customers come in looking for a case or holder to protect their iPhone against this, not realising just how secure the Apple Pay technology is.
 

Your iPhone 6, with Touch ID and Apple Pay, is actually more secure than your bank card.
 

It’s early days, but we’re seeing early iPhone 6 adopters starting to use mobile payments in coffee shops and supermarkets, and ditching their purses and wallets, which will continue happening as confidence in this new technology grows.
 

While Apple has led the mobile payments charge with Apple Pay, things are moving really quickly and it won’t be long until people with the latest Android smartphones can get involved too.
 

Samsung is currently testing Samsung Pay in the US for the latest Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 smartphones which will be coming here soon, while Google is releasing Android Pay which is also coming to the UK in the future.
 

So whether you’re young, old, an iPhone or Android user, soon you’ll be using the smartphone that’s in your hand to pay for the things you want.

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