Apple Pay will be coming to the UK in a couple of months' time, as Samsung prepares to match its rival with a smartwatch-based payments system. Apple will make the announcement at today's WWDC keynote, bringing Apple Pay to the UK just short of a year after it was launched in the US.
Apple Pay allows customers to make payments using later models of the iPhone, iPad or the Apple Watch. The service is widely supported by the major credit card companies and banks in the US, and is appearing in a growing number of retail stores. McDonald's, Nike, Disney and, of course, Apple's own retail stores all accept payments via the cashless system.
Industry sources have told The Telegraph that Apple will today announce the service will be rolled out in the UK this summer, having been in negotiations with leading British retailers since last year, when Apple Pay was first unveiled. Many existing contactless payments systems will be adapted to support Apple Pay, allowing users to wave their handsets or watches over terminals to pay for goods, the newspaper claims.
The news comes amid reports that Samsung is preparing to launch a cashless payments system in a smartwatch that will be launched in the second half of this year, according to Reuters. The system will be based on the same NFC technology used to deliver Apple Pay.
The South Korean giant announced its mobile payments system, Samsung Pay, back in March. The system can support multiple bank and credit cards. To make a payment, customers swipe up from the bottom of the phone screen, select the card they wish to pay with, and authenticate the purchase with the fingerprint reader. If paying in store, customers can simply tap the phone on the payment terminal. The watch-based system will presumably work in a similar manner, meaning users don't even have to remove the phone from their pocket or bag.
