Key Takeaways:
- Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone will include a new wallet function that will allow users to store digital documents and, reportedly, cryptocurrency.
- According to a press release, it will also allow users to store digital credit and debit cards.
Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone will include a new wallet function that will allow users to store digital documents and, reportedly, cryptocurrency. In addition, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be able to store ID documentation in digital form, including student IDs, driver’s licences, and national ID cards, as well as digital keys for houses and cars keys, in a new Digital ID feature that will be available “later this year.”
According to a press release, it will also allow users to store digital credit and debit cards. In addition, customers will also be able to use the ID feature to store boarding passes and “access tickets,” with the company hoping to debut these features “first after the product release” in its home country of South Korea. According to ZDNet, numerous media outlets also reported that other documents, such as coronavirus vaccination records, could be stored in the wallet, which will be crypto-compatible.
The wallet, according to Samsung, is “a seamless, convenient, and secure experience to make everyday life easier,” as it “combines digital payment, ID, keys, and asset management into one tool to simplify your routines, from showing your student ID to compiling travel documents before departure.”
Several South Korean companies, including Samsung, have been working on domestic solutions involving blockchain-powered wallets in recent years. Users can store various digital documents in these wallets, including blockchain-powered digitised driving permits.
In South Korea, this is commonly known as Distributed Identity Identification (DID) technology. An increasing number of South Korean businesses have begun to use digitised documentation, almost always stored in wallets similar to those used to store crypto and non-fungible tokens elsewhere (NFTs).
In its announcement, Samsung made scant mention of blockchain or cryptocurrency. Instead, it merely noted that its Knox Vault security platform “completely isolates sensitive data like your passwords, biometrics, or blockchain keys from the phone’s main operating system.” Meanwhile, some social media users and commentators were underwhelmed by the phone’s arrival in the metaverse.
