Samsung Pay starts rolling out in Canada
If you have the right card and phone, you can likely try it today.
Canadian iPhone owners have had Apple Pay for a while, but what if a Samsung phone is your weapon of choice? You might be set after today. Just a couple of weeks after the company revealed that Samsung Pay was coming to Canada in November, Galaxy phone owners are reporting that the tap-to-pay service is going live. You currently have to sideload the Samsung Pay app and framework on a compatible phone (typically a Galaxy S6, S7 or Note 5), but you may not have to take your wallet out after that. A formal launch should come soon.
The big catch: Samsung Pay only works with "select" Visa credit cards from one bank, CIBC. You're out of luck if if you pay with debit or prefer to stash your money elsewhere. More banks and cards are coming, but the service won't initially be as ubiquitous as Apple Pay (which supports debit and most Canadian banks). At least you won't have to worry as much about where you shop. Samsung Pay has the advantage of working with virtually any payment terminal, so you won't have to reach for old-school plastic as often as you might otherwise.
