LG Pay will expand to lower-end handsets, countries other than South Korea

LG’s mobile payments service LG Pay hasn’t received much attention since it launched with the LG G6 earlier this year, but that might be changing in the coming months. An LG executive (via Korea Herald) said in a meeting with journalists that the service will be coming to lower-end handsets at some point next year, and will also eventually be expanding to unspecified “global markets”…

“We will expand the use of LG Pay into low-budget smartphones alongside premium phones next year,” Cho Jun-ho, president of LG’s mobile division told the Korean media on Friday.

Currently, LG Pay is restricted to the LG G6 and LG G6 Plus in South Korea and only works offline. This announcement indicates that the Korean firm hopes it will catch up with competitors Samsung and Apple. The former service has support for 12 devices (and some of their variants) and works both online and in brick-and-mortar retail locations in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

Beyond expanding the service to lower-budget phones in South Korea, Cho also said that LG Pay will “expand into online stores and the global market,” the Herald reports, although he didn’t have any specific details on countries or a timeline to share for the rollout. Before it can do that, LG reportedly said that it “needs to address technical issues with financial companies.”

There are countless mobile payments services to choose from, and LG is definitely late to the game. But considering that the space has so much room to grow, perhaps LG Pay will make it to the US in time to at least capture a sizable share of the market — at least those who buy LG smartphones.

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