Samsung And MasterCard Will Launch Samsung Pay Together In Europe

Samsung and MasterCard, which have been working together to bring Samsung Pay to consumers and merchants around the world, announced today that they will extend their partnership to launch the mobile payment system in Europe.

Powered by LoopPay, the Apple Pay competitor that Samsung acquired earlier this year, Samsung Pay is supposed to launch in the U.S. soon and began trials in South Korea
earlier this month.

Samsung said in a press release that it is “currently working with banks and partners” like MasterCard to bring Samsung Pay to Europe, but didn’t say when consumers can expect to start seeing it in stores. TechCrunch has contacted the company for more information.

Smartphones with Samsung Pay will use MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), the same system used in the iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch to enable contactless payments through NFC.

One of the key differences between Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, however, is that the latter supports magnetic strip technologies (MST) in existing sales terminals, so retailers don’t have to upgrade their equipment in order to use it. Samsung has said that MST will allow it to reach up to 30 million merchants worldwide, as long as partnerships with payment providers fall into place.