Xiaomi has announced Mi Pay, NFC-based mobile payment service in China, in partnership with China UnionPay, one of the world’s largest payment networks. Mi Pay supports debit and credit cards from 20 banks from 12 banks and also public transportation cards from six cities across China.
This makes Xiaomi the first company smartphone company in the world to support contactless payments through both bank cards and public transportation cards.
Mi Pay makes use of NFC technology — Xiaomi smartphones with NFC like the Mi 5 have a built-in NFC chip with a separate secure element chip that has passed the EAL 6+ security test. Mi Pay currently works with Mi 5 with the latest MIUI 8.
Adding a card is easy through four steps. Users can open Mi Wallet app, select the option to add a bank card, key in the bank card details, and go through SMS verification for final confirmation. Up to eight cards can be tied to any one device. Mi Pay users also get to benefit from promotions and rewards offered by the banks.
Mi Pay uses tokenization to protect plain text credit card information, and makes users verify their fingerprint for maximum security. If a device is lost, users can turn off Mi Pay through the official website, and find their device using Mi Cloud.
Commenting on the launch, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said:
China UnionPay is a leader in the payments industry with global influence. In the field of mobile payments, China UnionPay has been committed to collaborating with various stakeholders to build a structured and sustainable ecosystem. After cooperating with China UnionPay over the past three years, Xiaomi is now truly excited about our joint partnership to launch Mi Pay. We believe that Mi Pay will be a key driving force in promoting the development of China’s mobile payments industry, and deliver much more convenience to our users.