Samsung just launched a credit card – but you probably won’t be able to get one
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Samsung plans to launch a new cash back credit card, which will offer a 10% discount on its products throughout the year.
Unfortunately for the majority of our readers, however, the card is only available in India.
The Samsung Axis Bank Credit Card, launched in partnership with India’s Axis Bank and Visa, will pit the South Korean giant against companies like Amazon, which are also offering cash back cards to sell their own products.
What do consumers get?
In addition to discounts on Samsung products, cardholders can also earn rewards for spending at partner merchants and other benefits, such as airport lounge access and a 1% fuel surcharge exemption.
The new card has no minimum transaction amount and no limit when it comes to Samsung purchases.
In addition, the new map comes in two main versions: “Signature” and “Infinite”.
The signature version has a monthly cashback limit of 10,000 rupees ($123) per year, while Infinite’s has a limit of 20,000 rupees ($246).
Signature has an annual fee of about $6, while Infinite will have a fee of about $60.
Why the move?
While Samsung devices are still popular in India, the market share in the region has dropped significantly since its peak.
The South Korean consumer tech giant currently has a 16.3% share of smartphone sales in the region, lagging behind Chinese rivals lately.
Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo now have shares of 20.4%, 17.5% and 16.9% respectively at the time of writing, according to IDC.
However, Samsung isn’t the only consumer electronics giant trying to break into the payments space.
Apple has announced new payment services for iPhone with the launch of a new suite of services at WWDC 2022, including Apple Pay Later, a potential competitor to services like Klarna, which allows consumers to split the cost of purchases into four equal payments over six weeks, with no interest. or late fees.