Samsung Pay launches in South Korea

Samsung has launched its mobile wallet service Samsung Pay in South Korea.

It joins Apple - which launched a rival facility last year - in trying to convince shoppers to use their handsets, rather than plastic cards, to make in-store purchases.

And Samsung believes it has one critical fact that will work in its favour: its tech works with a much larger number of existing payment terminals.

In truth, it's still unclear whether using mobiles to buy goods offline has much appeal beyond a novelty factor when it comes to non-geek members of the public.

But with two of the biggest names in tech betting their mobile payment services will help their handsets stand out, the days of slipping a bulky wallet into your pocket or handbag could be numbered.

At launch, Samsung Pay is only available in the company's home country.

But it will expand to the US on 28 September, and the firm has indicated that the UK, Spain and China will be next to get the facility sometime in the near-future.

That signals a more aggressive rollout than Apple Pay, which currently remains limited to the US and UK.

However, there are two other additional factors to consider.

Samsung Pay will only work with the firm's newest Android smartphones:

Galaxy S6

Galaxy S6 Edge

Galaxy S6 Edge 

Galaxy Note 5

And bank/credit card providers involved must be signed up to the scheme.

Source: BBC