Confirmed: Samsung Galaxy S21 will NOT support Samsung Pay MST

Samsung is dropping one of the main reasons to use Samsung Pay with the Samsung Galaxy S21.

Until today, Samsung Pay had one major advantage over other contactless payment systems – the ability to emulate a magnetic swipe card and use Samsung Pay even with card terminals which do not have NFC.

There has been some confusion about whether the Samsung Galaxy S21 supported MST (Magnetic Swipe Transmission), but now in a statement to AndroidPolice the company confirmed that they have dropped the feature, saying:

Due to the rapid adoption of near field communication (NFC) technology by consumers and businesses, beginning with devices launched in 2021, Samsung Pay will focus its support on NFC transactions, across the Galaxy portfolio. While future devices will no longer include magnetic stripe technology (MST), customers with previous, compatible Galaxy devices will be able to continue using Samsung Pay, including MST.

For many Samsung Pay users, support for MST was the only reason they used Samsung Pay, but Samsung is, of course, right that the penetration of NFC payments has increased tremendously over the years, making MST payments much less important.

If the absence of MST a dealbreaker for any of our readers? Let us know below.