The amount of mobile payments systems available to consumers these days has more than doubled or tripled in the past couple of years. Last year in particular was a big year for the ability to pay things with our phones and say the release of Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. All three finally went live last year, but only Apple Pay is currently active across the pond and in parts of Europe. Samsung Pay however, looks set to be launching across the Atlantic pretty soon, and the South Korean firm has teased that the launch could be happening during Mobile World Congress, which is only a couple of weeks’ away now.
During Samsung’s European Forum 2016, Nathalie Oestmann, Head of Samsung Pay Europe, told those in attendance that Samsung Pay is “coming to the UK and Spain very soon this year” and that “more details” will be available “at MWC”. It makes sense that Spain is mentioned here and it’s a massive hint that the launch might be tied to the Galaxy S7, as they’re using the Spanish city of Barcelona as their launching pad for the Galaxy S7. Whether or not the rest of Europe will see a launch at the same time is unclear, but we’re sure Samsung has been working on this for quite some time. Samsung Pay has been big in the firm’s home nation of South Korea, and a different solution from their rival LG recently surfaced in the form of a smart credit card type of device.
What makes Samsung Pay so attractive to the majority of card issuers and banks that have signed up is that due to the mag stripe tech inside the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note devices, users can pay with older terminals, simulating a card swipe. Samsung ended up buying the company behind the technology used in their 2015 flagships and it makes sense that the Galaxy S7 will continue to add new features and such. We’ll be in attendance during Samsung’s 2015 press conference come Sunday February 21st, so we’ll bring you all the announcements as soon as we can.