MI PAY: Xiaomi today is taking its first major step into financial services by launching Mi Pay, in partnership with UnionPay, one of the world’s largest payment networks. This is a contactless mobile payment service first available in China.
Here’s the good stuff:
– Mi Pay works with NFC-enabled smartphones such as Mi 5
– Supports debit and credit cards from 20 banks
– Users bind their cards into the Mi Wallet app
– Touch to pay at over 4M retail points of sale in China
– KICKER: It also supports transportation cards in major cities
The Mi 5 is really the only phone in Xiaomi’s lineup that supports NFC. It’s likely Xiaomi took NFC out of newer models as a cost-cutting measure, as earlier phones like the Mi 3 had it.
These are currently supports credit and debit cards from 20 banks, as well as public transportation cards from six cities across China. If you live in markets such as Hong Kong or India where Xiaomi is present, don’t hold your hopes up for Mi Pay to come your way.
It says, Mi Pay makes Xiaomi the world’s first smartphone company to support contactless payments through both bank cards and public transportation cards.
