‘White Card’ leak suggests LG Pay mobile payment won’t be smartphone based

A report from ETNews in Korea suggests that LG’s mobile payments service will not be smartphone based. At least, not exclusively. A ‘White Card’ has leaked showing a digital credit-card sized device which will be able to store multiple credit/debit cards’ details and enable a user to pay from any account, using just the single LG Pay card. In essence, it’s LG’s version of the Coin card which launched on KickStarter a couple of years back.

Its design and feature list is pretty basic, but it’s allegedly being launched to target the sector of the market which isn’t comfortable or familiar with using a smartphone to make payments. Having a device that looks, feels and acts like traditional credit cards, while adding the convenience of only needing the one ‘card’, could be comforting to those dubious about paying with a phone.

Starting from the left edge, you’ll notice some gold contact points. These, allegedly, are used to connect the card to its charger, which LG is claimed to be launching alongside it. On the bottom right corner are two arrows which users will press to cycle through individual cards stored on LG’s device. The card in use will be shown on the LCD display, alongside a battery level indicator.

LG initially stated that it would be launching its own mobile payments system back in November. It didn’t say exactly when the service was going live, but did say it will work on most LG phones, new or old. Perhaps this was LG’s way of secretly hinting that it’s not phone-based at all. Or perhaps LG will launch the physical ‘White Card’ as well as a phone-based NFC option, giving consumers the choice to use either, or both methods of payment.

LG has allegedly ordered 50,000 White Cards in preparation for launch, and is rumored to be announcing the payment service when it unveils the LG G5 next month at MWC in Barcelona.