Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay – what’s the difference and which one to choose?

Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay are three leading apps for contactless payment via smartphone. They allow you to link a bank card to a mobile device and pay with one touch of your phone or watch instead of a plastic card. In Kazakhstan, these services have gained significant popularity, and it is essential for businesses to understand their features in order to effectively leverage the trend towards cashless payments. Below, we will look at how the emergence of these apps has affected the payment market, compare their functionality and capabilities, and also find out what the end user should choose and what businesses should pay attention to.

Formation and dynamics of contactless payments in Kazakhstan

The launch of mobile payment services of global technology giants has significantly accelerated Kazakhstan's transition to cashless payments. The first to appear were Apple Pay (launched in Kazakhstan at the end of 2018) and Samsung Pay (officially launched in the spring of 2020). At the end of 2021, they were joined by Google Pay, which completed the formation of a triad of global solutions in the local market. Their mass implementation coincided with accelerated digitalization and the pandemic, which greatly increased the demand for contactless payments.

According to the National Bank and researchers, the emergence of these services had a significant impact. For example, in the first half of 2021 alone , Kazakhstani citizens made 18.8 million transactions through Apple Pay and Samsung Pay for a total of 104 billion tenge - significantly more than in the same period a year earlier. The total volume of payments using Smart Pay technologies (including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc.) increased 33 times in 2021 compared to 2019. At the same time, the share of cash in payments decreased from ~70% in 2019 to ~55% in 2021, meaning that cashless payments are steadily replacing cash.

This growth was made possible due to the widespread use of the necessary infrastructure. In 2020–2022, the number of retail outlets accepting cards for payment increased 4 times, reaching ~397 thousand, and more than 95% of POS terminals now support contactless payments. Users themselves also quickly got used to paying by phone. According to Mastercard, Kazakhstan is among the top ten leaders in terms of contactless payment penetration rates, and up to 40% of surveyed cardholders in the country have a positive attitude towards paying using smart devices. Many banks and payment systems fueled interest with promotions and cashbacks for payments via smartphones – both an aggressive promotional campaign and the convenience of the technology had an effect.

In 2024, non-cash transactions finally became the “new norm”: according to the National Bank, 12.8 billion non-cash transactions (+13.4% y/y) worth ₸166.1 trillion (+17% y/y) were conducted over the year; 98% of all transactions by number and 87% by volume were non-cash, with about 90% of the volume coming via Internet and mobile banking, that is, the channels where Apple Pay/Google Wallet and Samsung Pay are integrated.

In 2025, the trend accelerated: in May–June 2025, the volume of card transactions remained stable at ₸18.1–18.3 trillion per month with ~1.2–1.3 billion transactions; in May, the increase compared to May 2024 was +11.9% in quantity and +18.7% in volume (data from the NBRK).

As for the availability of the wallets themselves: Apple Pay is officially supported by a number of Kazakhstani banks (Altyn, ATF, Eurasian, Halyk, Bank CenterCredit, Forte, etc.), Google Pay has been functioning as Google Wallet since 2024 and is also supported by key banks in the country (Halyk, Forte, Eurasian, Alatau City Bank, Bereke, Freedom Finance Kazakhstan, Kazpost, etc.; Visa/Mastercard cards are supported), Samsung Pay works on compatible Samsung devices and is supported by local banks; lists and statuses are confirmed on the Apple/Google/Samsung and Mastercard KZ websites.

For businesses, these trends mean an increase in cashless revenue and new opportunities. Buyers are increasingly opting not to carry cash or plastic cards; all they need is a smartphone or smartwatch. Accepting payments via Apple Pay/Google Pay/Samsung Pay has become a standard for modern commerce. Entrepreneurs who quickly adopted modern payment methods gained an advantage: they expedited customer service and reduced the proportion of purchase refusals. Thus, mobile payments not only make life more convenient for ordinary consumers but also stimulate the development of a cashless economy, increasing the transparency of payments and reducing the costs of cash handling.

Comparison of Samsung Pay vs Google Pay, Apple Pay

All three services serve the same purpose - to provide instant and secure payment for purchases via a smartphone or smartwatch. However, there are a number of differences between Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Let's consider their key features and differences based on several criteria.

Functionality

Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay are largely similar in basic functionality. They allow you to add your bank card details to your digital wallet and pay in stores using NFC technology by simply tapping your device on the terminal. All transactions are protected by tokenization - instead of an actual card number, a unique digital token is transmitted, so the client's payment details remain safe. Biometrics (Touch ID, Face ID on iPhone or fingerprint/face scan on Android) or the device PIN code are used to confirm payment - no one can pay with your phone without permission. Thus, in terms of reliability and payment speed, all three services are roughly equal - the payment takes seconds, the seller does not know the card details, and each payment is confirmed by the owner.

However, there are also differences in capabilities. Historically, Samsung Pay stood out for its support of MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology - in addition to the usual NFC, it could emulate the magnetic strip of the card. This allowed you to pay with your phone even on old terminals where there is no contactless technology: the terminal “thought” that you swiped a plastic card. Now, however, this function is losing its relevance - since 2021, new Samsung models have ceased to be equipped with an MST module, as NFC payment has become a mass standard. In Kazakhstan, almost all terminals already work with PayWave/PayPass, so MST does not provide any special advantages.

Google Pay and Apple Pay are initially designed only for NFC. At the same time, Google Pay provides the user with a wider “ecosystem” functionality: in the Google Wallet application, you can store not only cards, but also digital tickets, boarding passes, bonus cards, door keys, etc. (recently, a similar approach has been implemented in Samsung Wallet, which has integrated Samsung Pay). Apple Pay is built into the Wallet app on Apple devices and also supports storing boarding passes, tickets, discount cards, etc. Thus, all three solutions are gradually evolving from simple payment apps into full-fledged digital wallets. For the end user, this translates into convenience: in addition to payment, you can keep many necessary things in one place.

Online payments deserve special mention. Apple Pay and Google Pay are widely supported on the Internet: websites and mobile applications often have “Pay via Apple Pay/Google Pay” buttons that allow you to conduct a transaction without entering card details manually. Such methods are also used in Kazakhstan, for example, Google Pay for payments in applications was available even before the official launch of the service itself in the country. Samsung Pay is less common in online shopping; it is usually used for offline payments. These services do not charge commissions for users - payment for the buyer is no different from a regular card transaction (the acquiring conditions are also the same for businesses).

Summary of functionality: from the consumer's point of view, all three applications provide fast and contactless payment, saving time and increasing security. There are no special differences in payment scenarios - Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay work "in one tap". Samsung Pay had an advantage on outdated terminals (MST), but today this is of little relevance. On the web and on Android devices, Google Pay may be more versatile, but Apple Pay is integrated into every Apple device by default. Overall, the apps' functionality is comparable, and they all make cashless payments much more convenient.

Supported devices

There are fundamental differences between the services, because each is focused on its own ecosystem of devices:

• Apple Pay works only on Apple devices. You can pay with an iPhone (starting with models that have an NFC chip, which for Apple is the iPhone 6 and above), as well as Apple Watch smartwatches, some iPad models, and even Mac laptops (via the Apple Pay function in Safari, with Touch ID or Apple Watch confirmation). The main scenario in retail is an iPhone or Apple Watch, which the user brings to the terminal. Apple Pay is not available on other platforms (Android, Windows).

• Google Pay works on most Android smartphones and watches. In fact, if you have an Android phone with an NFC module and Google services (Google Mobile Services), then you can install the Google Wallet (Google Pay) app and use it for contactless payments. This applies to devices of various brands - Samsung, Xiaomi, Google Pixel, Huawei (pre-2019 models with GMS), Nokia, etc. Additionally, Google Pay is supported on smartwatches with Wear OS (for example, Samsung Galaxy Watch4/Watch5 watches running the new OS, Fossil watches, etc.). Thus, Google Pay supports the widest range of devices: almost any modern Android smartphone is suitable, with minimal restrictions (Android Lollipop/5.0 and higher, and the presence of an NFC chip). The only exceptions are devices on "pure" Android without Google services (for example, Google Pay does not work with new Huawei devices with HMS).

• Samsung Pay works only on Samsung Galaxy devices. Initially, this service was available on flagships (Galaxy S, Note lines) and some mid-range models, but the list has since expanded. Now, Samsung Pay (Samsung Wallet) can be installed on any new Samsung smartphone and also used on Samsung smartwatches (Gear, Galaxy Watch). It is essential to note that the Samsung Pay application is not compatible with phones from other brands – Google Pay serves as an alternative for them. In 2017, Samsung tried to launch Samsung Pay Mini for other Android devices, but did not fully compete with Google on someone else's platform.

Thus, the choice of application is directly related to the choice of device. iPhone users are limited to Apple Pay, Android users outside of Samsung choose Google Pay, and Samsung owners can use both at once (and often install both options). It should be noted that Samsung smartphones, Google Pay and Samsung Pay work in parallel - you can link the same card and pay with any application you want. This can be useful if, for example, Samsung Pay is temporarily unavailable on Galaxy watches (in which case you can use your phone and pay via Google Pay, or vice versa). There are no third-party wallets for NFC in the Apple ecosystem - the company does not provide access to the NFC chip, so Google Pay on the iPhone can only be used for online payments, but not in stores.

Supported countries

All three services are international, but their geographical areas of operation differ.

Apple Pay is currently supported in more than 60 countries, including Kazakhstan. Our country became the 32nd in the list of Apple Pay launches in 2018. By 2025, Apple Pay will cover almost all of Europe, North America, many countries in Asia and Latin America. Exceptions are mainly related to local market restrictions. In Kazakhstan, Apple Pay functions smoothly; it can be used by holders of cards from local issuing banks (Halyk Bank, Kaspi, Alatau City Bank, Eurasian, Bank CenterCredit, etc. - almost all large second-tier banks have integrated with Apple Pay).

Google Pay (Google Wallet) is officially available in more than 40 countries. These include almost all countries in Europe, the CIS (except for those under sanctions), many Asian countries, the USA, Canada, etc. Kazakhstan received Google Pay in December 2021. Now Google Pay is fully functional in Kazakhstan on all supported devices and can be used to pay in stores and online. The list of banks compatible with Google Pay at the time of launch included about 10 of the largest players (Halyk, Kaspi, Alatau City Bank, Forte, Eurasian, BCC, and even subsidiary banks Sberbank and Alfa-Bank at that time). Today, almost any Visa/Mastercard card from a Kazakhstani bank can be added to Google Pay. As with Apple Pay, Google Pay no longer works for Visa/Mastercard cards in Russia, but in Kazakhstan, there are no such restrictions.

Samsung Pay has historically been launched selectively, rather than in all countries. From 2015 to 2020, the geography expanded to several dozen markets: South Korea, the USA, China, a number of European countries (including the UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, etc.), India, Australia, Brazil, etc. Kazakhstan became the first Central Asian country where Samsung Pay began operating. Beta testing started in January 2020, and the official launch took place on March 5, 2020. At launch, the service worked with Mastercard cards of nine banks in Kazakhstan; Visa was later added, although the number of Samsung Pay partner banks is slightly inferior to Apple/Google (as of 2022, 6 banks with Samsung Pay versus 9 banks with Apple Pay / Google Pay). Globally, Samsung Pay also faced restrictions in the Russian Federation (disabling Visa/Mastercard since 2022), but Samsung Pay continues to operate in Kazakhstan. Users of Samsung devices in Kazakhstan can download Samsung Wallet for free from Google Play/Galaxy Store and add their bank cards for payment via smartphone or smartwatch.

Country overview: Apple Pay and Google Pay are currently slightly more universal as they cover the widest list of countries and regions, which means that when traveling abroad, your smartphone will most likely be able to replace your card. Samsung Pay supports many countries, but not everywhere (for example, in a number of European countries, Samsung has only recently launched its Wallet). For Kazakhstanis, all three services are relevant within the country and abroad (with some notable exceptions). When choosing between them in terms of geography, it is worth considering that if you switch to a different brand, you will not be able to transfer cards linked to Samsung Pay; you will have to use Google Pay or an alternative. Apple Pay is linked to Apple ID, but this only makes sense within the Apple ecosystem.

How many people use contactless payment apps in Kazakhstan

In just a few years, contactless payment applications have transformed from a novelty for enthusiasts into a mass tool, especially in large cities of Kazakhstan. It is challenging to calculate the exact statistics of users of such services, as many individuals have multiple cards and devices simultaneously. However, indirect indicators and studies help to understand the scale of the phenomenon. For example, the mobile banking audience is growing rapidly in the country: by the end of 2024, there were about 24.8 million active users of online banking (with a population of ~19 million; probably, all registered devices and accounts are taken into account here). A significant part of them have used a smartphone to pay for purchases at least once.

Banks report that tens of thousands of customers immediately connected to Apple Pay in the first days after the launch. For example, ForteBank linked 10,000 devices to the service, in the two weeks following the launch of Apple Pay in the fall of 2018, while ATFBank processed 5,000 transactions worth 20 million tenge in the first two weeks. These figures now pale in comparison to later data, as the growth of service coverage has led to millions of transactions. As mentioned, in the first six months of 2021, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay alone processed 18.8 million payments - although one transaction is not equal to one user, it can be assumed that the audience is in the hundreds of thousands of people. In 2022–2023, penetration increased even more, especially after the launch of Google Pay, which immediately became available to cardholders of the major banks.

Indirectly, the popularity is also indicated by the statistics of non-cash transactions in general. In 2023, Kazakhstanis made 9.3 billion non-cash transactions over 10 months - a significant part of them were carried out using mobile banking applications and NFC wallets. In focus groups, many noted that they are used to paying with their phone and not carrying a card, and use cash only in exceptional cases. According to experts, about 30-40% of urban residents of Kazakhstan are active users of Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay (the exact figures may vary by region).

It is important to note that not only individuals, but also entrepreneurs pay for their needs with their smartphones. In recent years, the concept of SoftPOS has emerged – an application that turns a smartphone into a terminal for accepting cards (for example, Halyk POS and similar). This is the other side of the same technologies: businesses also use smartphones for transactions. In general, contactless payment via gadgets has become commonplace: when you visit any cafe in Almaty or Astana, you will likely see people placing their phones on the terminal. This trend is also supported by banks: they encourage customers with cashback for payment via Apple/Google/Samsung Pay, and also expand the list of compatible devices (there is even payment with NFC jewelry and rings, although this is a niche phenomenon).

For businesses, the growing number of mobile payment users means that the demand for such payment methods is very high. If, say, a cafe or online store does not accept Google Pay or Apple Pay, there is a high probability of losing some of the customers accustomed to instant payment “with one click”. Fortunately, this is rare offline - almost all POS terminals work with contactless cards, which means they automatically accept smartphones. Online, the implementation of support for these wallets (through special solutions for the site or application) gives businesses an increase in conversion: it is more convenient for the client to pay without entering card details. Thus, the number of users of contactless applications in the Republic of Kazakhstan is already in the millions, and neither retail outlets nor service companies can ignore this audience.

Which one to choose: Google Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay

For the end user, the choice is largely predetermined by the device, as discussed above. If you use an iPhone, there are simply no alternatives to Apple Pay (and, fortunately, there is no particular need for them either; the service copes with tasks perfectly). If you have an Android smartphone from another brand (not Samsung), your default choice is Google Pay, as it is the most universal and widely supported system. If you own a Samsung Galaxy, you have both options: Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

Which one should you use? There is no clear answer - many have both applications and use them depending on the situation. However, there are a few points to consider:

• Compatibility and ecosystem. Google Pay is linked to your Google account and will work on any new Android device you log into. Samsung Pay only works on Samsung devices. If you switch to Xiaomi in a year, for example, your familiar Samsung Wallet will no longer be available. In this sense, Google Pay is more flexible and portable when switching between devices.

• Functional details. In Kazakhstan, both services for Android perform their main function in the same way - payment in a store will work in both places. However, Google Pay may be more convenient for online payments (the GPay button is more common on websites). Samsung Pay may appeal to the fact that it opens immediately with a swipe from the bottom of the screen on Samsung phones - some people find this faster than launching the application manually. Also, when Samsung Pay launched, it offered a loyalty program (Samsung Rewards bonus points) in some countries, but this program did not catch on in Kazakhstan. In general, there are few differences in usability, and the user experience is similar.

• Support from your banks. Before choosing, make sure that the bank issuing your card supports the required service. Most Kazakhstani banks work with Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay. But, for example, some small banks could only connect to one platform. If you have cards from different banks, you can spread them across applications (say, keep one card in Samsung Wallet, the second in GPay) - in case of failures, this gives you a backup option. However, there are currently no significant problems with the availability of services in Kazakhstan.

• Security. All the solutions under consideration provide a high level of payment protection (tokens, encryption, biometric verification). From a security standpoint, there is no objective reason to consider one of them more reliable than the others; Apple, Google, and Samsung all carefully monitor security. Therefore, the security factor can be disregarded when making a choice, as there is parity here.

To sum it up, it is more important for users to be part of the ecosystem that suits them. Apple owners will stay with Apple Pay, and judging by the reviews, they are very happy with the ease of payment. Android users in Kazakhstan can enjoy a similar experience by simply installing Google Wallet. If you use Samsung flagships and enjoy their proprietary services, Samsung Pay doesn’t offer anything radically new, but it performs its role as a wallet quite well. In some cases, as we noted, it makes sense to keep several apps: this does not create a conflict and can be convenient (for example, different cards in different wallets or a backup payment option).

From a business perspective, the answer to the question “what to choose” sounds unambiguous: you need to choose what the client prefers. And clients now use all three options. Therefore, it is optimal to accept payments both through Apple Pay and through Google/Samsung Pay - fortunately, this is technically easy to implement (all you need is a modern terminal and Internet acquiring with support for tokenized payments). If your business is online, it's worth connecting both popular payment options (Apple Pay and Google Pay) on your website or in your app, as this will remove unnecessary friction when entering cards and increase sales conversion.

Ultimately, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are not competitors, but rather complementary tools, each serving its own audience. All of them have proven themselves as reliable and convenient payment systems for smartphones. The growth of their use in Kazakhstan confirms that the future belongs to contactless technologies. The task of entrepreneurs is to stay current with the times and provide customers with the best payment solutions.

PAYGATE is your reliable partner in the field of payment solutions, helping businesses organize convenient payment acceptance through various modern technologies. If you want to expand your business's capabilities and integrate popular contactless payment methods, contact us. We will select the best solution for you, so that your customers can always pay in a way that is convenient for them.