Samsung is taking on Apple in the smartwatch battle on its own turf - or operating system at least.
The South Korean electronics giant announced on Wednesday that its Gear S2 smartwatch will now be compatible with Apple's iOS devices.
Previously the wearable only worked with certain Samsung phones. Now the company is going directly after Apple users, hoping to win over Apple Watch users on to a Samsung wearable device.
By accessing a wider user base, Samsung will be hoping to attract more developers, who can now also gain access to Apple users, to make apps for the South Korean group's products.
In another sign of Samsung's pursuit of Apple users, the electronics titan released an 18-karat rose gold and a platinum version of the Gear S2.There was no indication of price for the new styles.
Samsung also announced that the Gear S2 will start supporting Samsung Pay in South Korea and the U.S. in early 2016. Samsung Pay is a mobile payments system that works similar to Apple Pay, where users can just tap their phone on a terminal.
But Samsung claims its version is different. The South Korean titan said Samsung Pay works using near field communication (NFC) technology as well as magnetic strip technology, meaning retailers will not have to upgrade their point-of-sales terminals. The company claims this will allow Samsung Pay to work with over 90 percent of the world's retailers.
Samsung has had a strong start to the service in South Korea – its home turf. Now the company said via Twitter that the service will be "coming soon" to Australia, Singapore and Brazil in addition to the U.K, Spain and China.