Prada Centurion SmartBand Ends on 1 October 2026
Christian··5 min read
American Express sent me the end date for the Prada Centurion SmartBand this week. The discontinuation itself was announced back in the summer of 2024; now there's a date: on 1 October 2026 the chip's validity expires. After that, the band can no longer be used to pay.
Anyone still holding an active SmartBand linked to their card account can use it until September 2026. That's it. The same date applies to the SmartBand tied to the Centurion supplementary card.
What the SmartBand was
A wristband with a payment chip, linked to the card account, in a Prada version available only to Centurion members. Contactless payments without a card, without a phone. You keep the band itself, of course. It simply stops being a payment method.
Honestly, it was never the benefit the card hung on. It was an object. Something you unbox, find briefly impressive, and then leave in its case, because the iPhone on your wrist is faster anyway. Which is exactly why its retirement isn't a disaster.
Something else about it is more interesting.
The pattern behind it
The SmartBand isn't the first benefit to quietly disappear over the past two years:
- Emirates Skywards Gold Status, which delivered real, recurring everyday value
- the Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter credit, replaced by a far smaller offering
- airport valet parking, one of the most convenient perks there was
- and now the SmartBand
You can argue that each individual item was expendable. Taken together, though, they shift what the card actually is. Fewer physical, tangible extras; more programme status and credits you have to actively claim.
With the SmartBand there's the added point that it was exclusive. A Prada object with an Amex chip that you couldn't buy anywhere. Things like that are the reason people look past what the Centurion Card costs in the first place. A credit is available elsewhere. An object that exists nowhere else is not.
What to do before October
Check whether your band is even still active. Plenty of SmartBands were never linked, or went inactive long ago. In that case nothing changes for you.
Use the last few weeks if you want to. It works normally until September 2026.
Sort out recurring payments. If you've stored the band anywhere that charges automatically, move that to the card itself or to Apple Pay before October. That's the one place where this can genuinely hurt, and it's easy to overlook.
Keep the band. The chip is dead; the object isn't.
My verdict
The SmartBand was a lovely piece of product design and a weak payment benefit. Its end costs nobody money, and no convenience that a phone can't replace in two seconds.
Still, the move says something about the direction of travel. The Centurion Card has spent years losing the things that made it distinctive and gaining benefits that look more like a loyalty programme than a privilege. Sometimes that's a good trade, see the new ALL Accor status. Sometimes something simply goes away.
On 1 October 2026 the band is a bracelet. That's all.