Victor Thomson Tech 06.04.2016 05:Jun AM EDT

Samsung Pay Enters Its First European Market

Following its launch in South Korea, China and the United States, Samsung Pay has arrived in its first European market, Spain.

According to ZDNet, the comparatively late launch in Europe is caused by a body of complicated regulatory obligations to fulfill there. However, TechCruch notes that this move still gives Samsung's mobile payment service a head start over competitors Android Pay and Apple Pay. None of the two have landed in Europe yet.

For Apple Pay, Spain would also be its first European market. The mobile payment service is expected to arrive in Spain some time this year. According to NFC World, Spencer Spinnell, Google director of emerging platforms, said that Android Pay also plans to enter Europe soon.

Samsung Pay is available in Spain, as in other markets, on Samsung's flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and S6 series. In the next few weeks, the mobile payment service will also be added to this year's model Galaxy A5.

Samsung explained that it has chosen to pick Spain as its first European market because the European country has high rates of credit card and smartphone penetration. Around 64 percent of Spanish consumers use cards to pay for their purchases, according to research.

Samsung Pay is currently partnered in Spain, with banks imaginBank and CaixaBank. The mobile payment service will also be available soon for customers of Banco Sabadell and Abanca.

Android Authority reports that Samsung's announcement did not specify it works with near-field communication (NFC)-enabled contactless payment terminals and did not make any mention of magnetic secure transmission (MST) terminals. CaixaBank made a statement earlier in January, saying that it will not support Samsung Pay's MST. This means that Samsung Pay may be missing a key feature in Spain.

In the United States, using MST gives Samsung Pay an advantage over Android Pay and Apple Pay, because in order to accept it, stores do not have to install new NFC-enabled terminals. Samsung Pay works instead by sending a signal to an MST terminal mimicking the magnetic strips on credit cards.