Samsung Pay gets in-app payments, expands to more countries

Samsung's mobile payment platform Samsung Pay, which lets users keep all their credit and debit cards in virtual form on their phone and use them for contactless payments, is getting a host of new features in the U.S., and it's expanding into more countries.

By the end of the year, Samsung has announced, the service will be available in Malaysia, Russia and Thailand, bringing the total number of markets it's available in to 10.

In the U.S., Samsung has partnered with Mastercard to add support for Masterpass, a digital wallet solution that stores users' payment and shipping information, making online payments easier. The service will become available to users in early 2017.

U.S. Samsung Pay users are also getting support for in-app payments in November. They'll be able to select Samsung Pay when paying in merchant apps that support the platforms; initially, these are Velocity, Raise, Fancy, Hello Vino, Wish and Touch of Modern, and Samsung promises there's "more to come."

Finally, the new Deals feature will automatically locate nearby discounts and coupons in stores and restaurants; users will be able to instantly redeem these deals.

Samsung has also partnered with Capital One and USAA, and Samsung Pay now supports more than 500 banks and credit unions in the U.S. That's over 85 percent of the country's debit and credit card market.