Samsung Pay in action (via <a href="http://www.engadget.com" target="_blank">Engadget</a>)
In addition to announcing new Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 smartphones today at its event, the South Korean handset maker has announced the official launch date for its mobile payment service called Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay was first demoed at an event in March and works differently than Google’s OS-level Android Pay as it uses Magnetic Secure Transmission technology based on its LoopPay acquisition that makes it widely compatible with point-of-sale terminals.
Starting a week from today, Samsung Pay will go live for the first time in South Korea enabling mobile payments from compatible Samsung devices. Following the initial rollout, Samsung Pay will go live in the United States starting September 28th.
In addition to launching in South Korea and the United States, Samsung says it’s targeting the UK, Spain, and China as the next markets to launch its mobile payment service. The mobile payment service was initially expected to go live earlier this summer.
As for availability, Samsung Pay is “preloaded on select Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 devices” while a software update coming this month will add support on Galaxy S6 and S6 edge phones. Additionally, Samsung says it will launch a limited beta for Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note5 phones starting August 25th. Full press release below:
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There’s only so many ways you can shape a rectangular slab and call it a smartphone, right? Well, the tech industry is seemingly realizing so. We have seen glimpses of more radical change with LG‘s and Samsung‘s devices in the past few years, and Google is now pushing things even forward with its modular Project Ara smartphone.
