A wallet upgrade that links Samsung to South Africa’s QR rails
Samsung Wallet now supports QR code payments through a new Scan to Pay feature provided by EFT Corp, allowing Galaxy users to pay in-store and online by scanning merchant QR codes directly from the wallet. According to Samsung’s South Africa newsroom, users open Samsung Wallet, scan the QR code at a participating merchant, authenticate, and complete the payment without needing a physical bank card. This positions Samsung Wallet as a front door to account-based payments at the point of sale.
The QR capability inside Samsung Wallet is powered by Scan to Pay, described by Samsung as South Africa’s leading alternative payment solutions provider. Samsung’s announcement states that Scan to Pay reaches more than 600,000 acceptance locations across the country. It is also integrated into over 19 million consumer banking, fintech and financial service provider applications.
As a result, the upgrade gives Samsung immediate reach across a dense merchant network and a wide app base, rather than building QR rails from scratch. Samsung confirmed the feature in late August 2026, framing it as a way to make everyday payments faster, simpler and more secure for Galaxy users in South Africa. A separate merchant-focused briefing from Beta Briefing reports that Samsung integrated EFT Corp’s Scan to Pay infrastructure into Samsung Wallet on 29 August, enabling QR payments across those 600,000 acceptance points for South African Galaxy users. Together, these signals mark a current, material enhancement to Samsung Wallet’s role in the local payments ecosystem.
How QR standards and device wallets shift South African payments
South Africa’s QR and wallet infrastructure has matured rapidly. MyBroadband reports that all major South African banks now support device-based wallets such as Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and Garmin Wallet, in a push to move cardholders towards more secure, device-enabled payments. This broad support means Samsung Wallet can tap existing bank integrations, while Scan to Pay adds QR acceptance on top of contactless card rails.
Meanwhile, the QR ecosystem itself is modernising. A detailed industry analysis from payments firm Bob.co.za explains that, under the South African Reserve Bank‘s Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme, the sector is building a single national QR standard called QR+. A central registry aims for ‘one code, any app’. The first version of the QR+ standard was published in December 2025, with industry testing underway and nearly two hundred organisations from banks, fintechs and telcos involved.
QR+ supports both merchant-presented and consumer-presented codes and sits atop PayShap and card rails, making the QR code the entry point rather than the payment method itself. This context matters for the Scan to Pay integration. Samsung’s feature rides on a QR network already woven into millions of apps and hundreds of thousands of merchants, while regulators and industry players work to standardise QR acceptance. As QR+ gains traction, wallet players that already connect to major QR providers stand to benefit from smoother interoperability and more consistent user experiences at the till.
What does the deal mean for merchants and investors?
For merchants, the Beta Briefing notes that embedding QR acceptance directly into smartphone operating systems bypasses traditional card hardware. This helps accelerate account-to-account retail payments. Native QR options can also lower reliance on card terminals and associated interchange fees, offering a clearer cost rationale for large and small merchants alike. That combination of cost and reach strengthens the business case for QR adoption in sectors from informal retail to large chains.
For investors, the Samsung–Scan to Pay tie-up shows how big device manufacturers are quietly becoming core nodes in African payment infrastructure. Samsung gains deeper distribution for its wallet in South Africa, while EFT Corp anchors its QR network inside a major hardware ecosystem. In parallel, central-bank-backed modernisation of QR standards points to growing demand for QR infrastructure, merchant acquisition and wallet interoperability plays across the market. As one payments analyst summary put it, QR-native wallets are steadily turning smartphones into the default point-of-sale terminal for emerging markets.
Looking ahead, investors and executives should watch three signals: bank and fintech uptake of QR+, merchant migration from card terminals to QR-led acceptance, and how fast Samsung expands similar QR or wallet integrations into other African markets as device-led payments gain ground.
Quick answers
It lets Galaxy users pay in-store and online by scanning merchant QR codes directly from Samsung Wallet, without needing a physical bank card, across more than 600,000 acceptance locations powered by EFT Corp.
According to Samsung’s South Africa newsroom, Scan to Pay reaches over 600,000 acceptance locations and is integrated into more than 19 million consumer banking, fintech and financial service provider applications.
QR+ is a single national QR standard being developed under the South African Reserve Bank’s Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme, with its first version published in December 2025; it aims to create ‘one code, any app’ interoperability, positioning wallet players already connected to major QR networks — like Samsung via EFT Corp — to benefit from broader standardisation.
