Hey Apple and Samsung, Xiaomi just launched tap-to-pay in China

Like Apple and Samsung users in China, Xiaomi smartphone owners are now able to "tap to pay" at contactless terminals in stores. But Xiaomi users will have an additional feature — they can also tap to pay on public transportation in six big cities there.

Specifically, those cities are Shanghai and Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangdong, Suzhou and Wuhan.

This makes Xiaomi the first smartphone maker to successfully support contactless payments on buses and trains in China, beating bigger players to the punch.

Mashable understands that the payment feature called Mi Pay comes to existing Xiaomi phones that have NFC chips. Xiaomi already started trialling public transit payment earlier this year in Shanghai and Shenzhen, based on local reports. Read more...