Exclusive: Samsung Pay to launch in China, Spain, and the UK in Q1 2016

Samsung’s mobile payments service, which debuted with the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge, was launched in the US and South Korea a few months ago. Now, the South Korean smartphone giant is prepping to launch Samsung Pay in other markets around the world.

As per the information that we’ve received, Samsung is planning to launch Samsung Pay in China, Spain, and the UK in the first quarter of 2016. Currently, only five Samsung devices – the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 edge, the Galaxy S6 edge+, the Galaxy Note 5, and the Gear S2 – but the Gear S2 only supports NFC payments.

Samsung uses MST technology, which mimics card swipes at regular checkout equipments to make payments, in Samsung Pay-enabled smartphones. The company acquired LoopPay for $250 million to use this technology. It is competing with Apple Pay, Android Pay, and CurrenC for supremacy in the payments service market.