As expected, Samsung Pay is now live in the UK

Update – May 16: The rumors are indeed true. Samsung Pay is now available in the UK, People in that country who own the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge (if those last two phones have Android Nougat installed) can download the Samsung Pay app from the Galaxy Apps Store. At the moment, only three UK banks (MBNA, Nationwide, and Santander) support the payment system.

Original Story (May 1): After expanding to a number of other countries earlier in 2017, the Samsung Pay digital payment service could launch in the major UK market very soon. A new report claims that May 16 could be the day for the payment service to go live in the land of Queen Elizabeth, Doctor Who and fish and chips.

The report comes from SamMobile, who received an email from a reader who took screenshots of two separate conversations with Samsung support representatives. Both said that Samsung Pay will launch on May 16. It’s important to point out that support reps for companies are not always reliable when it comes to information about future product or service launches. Also, while May 16 could be the current target date for the launch, plans can, and often do, change at the last minute.

Samsung Pay first launched in August of 2015 in South Korea, and became available in the US one month later in September 2015. The service, which only works on Samsung smartphones and smartwatches, has since expanded to 17 markets. That includes India, which had its launch in March, and a few days ago it expanded yet again to include Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with a beta launch in Hong Kong and Switzerland. It is scheduled to expand to other countries in the future, including Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey and Italy.