Samsung Pay could arrive in the U.K. with the Galaxy S7

Samsung Pay currently serves just two countries. Photo: Samsung

Samsung Pay currently serves just two countries. Photo: Samsung

The Galaxy S7 could be accompanied by Samsung Pay when it launches in the U.K. next month. Samsung has confirmed the service will go live in Europe in early 2016, and it promises to tell us more during its Unpacked event at Mobile World Congress.

At a Samsung European Forum, Rory O’Neill, Vice President of Marketing, told the audience that “the next Galaxy will be the best Galaxy ever.” O’Neill also promised that we’ll find out more about the next stage of Gear VR later this month.

“Samsung clearly sees Gear VR integration to be an important aspect of its next flagship smartphone,” reports TechRadar, which was at the event. “But it made it clear that Samsung Pay is another big thing it’s focusing on this year.”

Nathalie Oestmann, head of Samsung Pay, confirmed that the service will launch in Europe this year, and promised Samsung would reveal more about its rollout plans for the U.K. at MWC, where it will announce its new smartphones.

If Samsung’s going to use the same event to unveil these plans, there’s a good chance Samsung Pay’s launch in the U.K. will coincide with the launch of the Galaxy S7, which is expected to take place on March 11 in Europe and the U.S.

Samsung Pay is only available in South Korea and the U.S. right ow, but if it wants to beat rivals from Apple and Google, it needs to support more markets. It already has the upper hand technically, with support for traditional magnetic card readers that negates the need for NFC.