365telugu.com online news,october8th,2025: PhonePe introduced its innovative SmartPOD, a hybrid payment device, at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, reinforcing its commitment to empowering Indian merchants with practical, cutting-edge solutions. Manufactured in India, the SmartPOD merges the advanced features of PhonePe’s SmartSpeaker with traditional Point of Sale (POS) capabilities, offering a cost-effective, all-in-one payment solution for merchants.
Building on the success of earlier SmartSpeakers, which provided audio alerts for UPI transactions, the SmartPOD addresses a key gap for merchants who primarily rely on UPI but miss out on sales due to the lack of affordable card payment options.
By integrating UPI, QR code scanning, and card payments, the SmartPOD enables merchants to cater to diverse customer preferences, capturing additional sales opportunities while delivering a seamless payment experience.
Yuvraj Singh Shekhawat, Chief Business Officer – Merchant Business at PhonePe, commented, “The launch of the SmartPOD at GFF 2025 marks a significant step forward. While our previous SmartSpeakers streamlined QR-based payments, the SmartPOD adds card acceptance, making it an ideal, cost-effective solution for smaller merchants.
This device empowers them to compete with larger businesses by offering customers the flexibility to pay with cards, driving growth and expanding opportunities.”
The SmartPOD retains popular features from the SmartSpeaker 2.0, such as celebrity voice confirmations, 4G connectivity, and fast charging. It supports card payments across major networks, including Mastercard, Visa, RuPay, and American Express, accommodating both NFC tap and EMV chip transactions (dip & pay).
Enhancing user experience, the device features a customer-facing display for transaction amounts, a merchant-facing display for easy amount entry, a PIN-entry keypad, and e-charge slip support for secure card transactions.
PhonePe’s range of device solutions, including the SmartPOD, will be available nationwide, allowing merchants to select the device best suited to their needs. This flexible, tiered approach ensures businesses of all sizes can adopt affordable, efficient in-store digital payment solutions.