Huawei smartwatches will soon be able to pay wirelessly via NFC

Contactless payment is a basic function for most smart watches. You can load your credit card onto the smartwatch and use it to pay the bill at any NFC terminal. This is practical because you don't have to take your wallet or smartphone out of your pocket. You always have the watch to hand.

Only available for the latest watches

Huawei smartwatches have not been able to do this until now. As a result of the now five-year trade conflict between China and the USA, the Chinese manufacturer has struggled to find an alternative to Google Pay. Huawei is no longer allowed to use this service.

In December 2024, Huawei is now rolling out an update that enables payment via NFC. For the time being, however, only for the recently launched GT-5 series and the Ultimate Green Edition. It is unclear whether other models will be added later.

There are further restrictions: For now, the payment feature is only usable if you've paired the Watch with an Android phone. iPhone users will have to wait until the first half of 2025.

Payment via an additional service

Contactless payment works via the "Quicko Wallet App". This is offered by a Polish financial service provider that was set up with EU funds.

You can therefore not simply use your existing credit card, but have to create a new, virtual prepaid Mastercard with Quicko. This can then also be used on the watch via the app. Your own credit card is then only used to top up your Quicko account. Bank transfers, such as with Revolut, are not yet possible.

The additional costs are unclear. There is no fee for the virtual credit card or for opening an account. However, a fee of one per cent is charged for payments in a foreign currency. This is a very low figure in comparison, as it is usually 1.2 to 2.5 per cent. However, even topping up the account using your own credit card sometimes costs fees. And it is still unclear whether the Polish zloty or the euro is the base currency. However, payments in Switzerland would be subject to a fee in any case.

The fact that Huawei is finally upgrading its watches, which have always been very convincing in tests, with NFC payment is very pleasing. However, the chosen path still looks like a makeshift solution at the moment. The meagre press release leaves many questions unanswered - to which Huawei has not yet provided any answers despite enquiries.