Samsung Pay is still a notable omission from the UK, and when it finally does reach British shores, it will be missing a key feature, Digital Spy has learned.

Unveiled last August and having since been rolled out across Korea, the US and China, Sammy's mobile payment service's big selling point over rival Apple Pay is its ability to support Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) payments as well as NFC transactions - meaning it's compatible with far more existing store terminals than its rivals.

Confused? Well, MST payments mimic the magnetic strip on your traditional bank card, letting you tap your phone against older payment terminals to make a payment - handy.

According to a reliable source with knowledge of the matter, however, Samsung Pay has failed to secure the UK-based backing of a major card manufacturer for this Apple-toppling feature, with Visa Europe opting not to support Samsung Pay's MST technology.

According to our trusted insider, Visa Europe has decided not to support the feature as it's spent years convincing customers to move away from using the magnetic stripes on their cards and adopt more secure payment methods. Visa US currently supports MST.

When approached by Digital Spy on the matter, Samsung opted not to comment on the claims, stating simply: "Samsung can't comment on rumour and speculation."

Visa Europe, however, has been slightly more outspoken, suggesting its strategy could see the UK miss out on the key feature due to our already advanced contactless infrastructure.

"We have mature contactless infrastructure in the UK, so we have less use of swipe or mag stripe experiences," Jon White, Head of Product Enablement Strategy at Visa Europe told us.

"Fundamentally for us, we love Samsung Pay, it's a great experience, but what we're all about is preserving our brand promise to all our customers and where they're using Samsung Pay in every store, we just have to ensure they enjoy the best experience.

"There's a role for the different technologies at play in Samsung Pay depending on the country, the market, and the specific retailer.

"It would be wrong to say we're not supporting MST, we're just taking a market-by-market case, and that's down to us, Samsung, the card makers to make sensible decisions on what experiences are best for consumers."

Although confirming a May Samsung Pay launch, our insider was unable to further narrow the rollout plans.

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