LG Pay could have the killer feature that Apple and Android are missing

LG Pay, or White Card as it might be called, has been MIA for a while now. It was rumored to be getting a Mobile World Congress 2016 launch, but that event has been and gone with no sign of LG's mobile payment system.

However, while it would be tempting to assume that the rise of Android Pay has killed off LG Pay, we're now hearing that it may still be in the works – and that it could have a trick that no other mobile payment system currently offers.

Rumors suggest that LG's White Card is a physical credit card-style card, rather than a feature built into a smartphone, and that it's a universal card which stores all the information from your other cards, and has a screen and buttons to let you choose between them.

And, according to a report from ET News, the card's killer feature is an integrated circuit (IC) chip.

IC chips, which are starting to be used in some credit cards, use on-the-spot encryption methods to better protect the card data from being stolen or cloned. But LG Pay also apparently works with the magnetic stripe technology which is currently used by most payment terminals.

Other mobile payment solutions, such as Android Pay and Apple Pay, are widely compatible with current card machines, but they don't have an IC chip, which means that if and when machines are updated to only support IC chips (and in doing so become more secure), LG Pay could be the only mobile payment option that would work with them.

LG Pay may struggle

That could be just the feature LG pay needs to still be relevant in a post-Android Pay world, although we're skeptical that it would be enough.

Given that one of the big selling points of mobile payments is that they could kill off cards and wallets altogether, the fact that LG's White Card is an actual card seems like a step backwards, and something that could struggle to catch on in the crowded mobile payments market.

That doesn't mean LG Pay isn't coming – but with no updated release date, by the time it does arrive it could be too little too late, even if it does have an IC chip.

We've asked LG for any updated comment on its payment system plans, and we'll let you know if we hear anything.

• New to Android Pay? Here's how to get up and running.