Samsung has partnered with MasterCard to allow people to make in-store purchases as it seeks to take on Apple in the mobile payment space.
Samsung Pay, which will compete with the Apple Pay mobile payment service, will come to the US in the summer, but does not yet have a UK launch date.
The Samsung service will only be available to those who have a MasterCard account and own a Samsung Galaxy S6, which has just been unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
MasterCard chief emerging payments officer Ed McLaughlin said his company has teamed up with Samsung to provide a “digital payment experience that is both simple and secure”.
The companies claim the technology will work at both “contactless-enabled and most traditional point of sale terminals”.
Samsung Electronics executive vice-president Dr Injong Rhee said: “From the start, Samsung’s vision for mobile payments and commerce has been centred on security, wide acceptance, and a simple user experience.
“Samsung Pay makes secure contactless mobile payments possible at most NFC or traditional magnetic PoS terminals. Samsung’s ‘Knox’ security platform and fingerprint authentication make Samsung Pay transactions highly secure and easy to use.”
Samsung is following hot on the heels of arch-rival Apple, which launched its Apple Pay service in the US towards the end of last year.
Apple Pay also uses fingerprint authentication and the California-based tech firm claimed in its most recent analyst call that it now accounts for two thirds of contactless payments in the US.
Apple was due to roll out Apple Pay in the UK at the beginning of this year, but it is understood its launch has been delayed due to wrangling with UK banks about data concerns.
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