A Samsung credit card? New rival to the Apple Card could be coming soon
The Galaxy smartphone maker could be coming for your wallet in a new way
💳 Samsung is rumored to be working on its own credit card
🍎 It would be the most notable rival to the Apple Card yet
🏦 Samsung will reportedly partner with Barclays and offer perks in Samsung Wallet
❌ Nothing is finalized yet, however
Samsung is working on its own credit card to rival the Apple Card. That’s according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, which claims that the tech giant sees this as a way to bolster Samsung Wallet’s appeal and make it more robust than what’s currently available. It’ll be backed up by perks and other cashback offerings, and the company is said to be partnering with British bank Barclays to make it all possible.
The Samsung card is said to be a Visa credit card that’ll offer cashback perks based on the type of purchases you make. Those rewards will then be stored in an account in your Samsung Wallet and can be used for future purchases. Samsung sees this as an opportunity to bolster sales of its other products like smartphones, appliances, and more. Apple offers no interest installment plans when you buy one of its products with the Apple Card, and it sounds like Samsung could take a similar approach.
Other financial products Samsung is working on include high-yield savings accounts, digital prepaid accounts, a new Buy Now, Pay Later program, and more, all in an effort to make Samsung Wallet more appealing to users.
Samsung is known for competing with Apple head-to-head in a variety of different ways, and it seems like the company sees a big opportunity to give it users something that iPhone owners have been enjoying for over five years.
That being said, nothing is finalized yet. Negotiations with Barclays are taking longer than expected, according to WSJ, and it’s unclear whether Samsung has gotten farther along with the institution than it did when it was exploring partnerships in 2018 to launch a credit card, which ultimately fizzled out. Credit cards are a tough business; Apple’s partner, Goldman Sachs, has reported immense losses due to the Apple Card, which could force Apple to switch to JPMorgan Chase in the near future.
It’s unclear when the first Samsung credit card could arrive, but we’ll keep you posted if we hear anything.
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.