Samsung is reportedly negotiating a collaboration with LoopPay to develop a mobile payment platform to rival Apple Pay, according to a new report.

Apple and Samsung have always been in tight competition, and it's not a big surprise that Samsung wants to compete with the Apple Pay service announced back in September.

According to a new report from Re/code, Samsung has been discreetly negotiating a deal with LoopPay to allow its customers to use a mobile device at retail stores in order to pay for their purchases without having to swipe a debit or credit card. The publication cites sources close to the matter, but points out that nothing is concrete just yet and the deal might not materialize.

"Samsung has discussed a deal with a payments startup that would help the smartphone maker unveil a wireless mobile payments system in 2015 to rival Apple, according to multiple sources," Re/code reports.

"The technology would allow people with certain Samsung phones to pay in the vast majority of brick-and-mortar stores by waving their phones instead of swiping with a credit card or cash. Samsung's new smartphone is expected to be announced in the first half of 2015," adds the report.

This means that Samsung's next smartphone could come with LoopPay's tech on board, which wirelessly sends store credit card info to the payment terminal to make the whole process easier and more convenient.

On the other hand, Re/code points out that it remains unclear at this point whether Samsung has managed to reach a deal with the startup. According to the report, one source said the deal could still crumble at this point. Nevertheless, a prototype of the payments system working on a Samsung phone is already real, another source said.

The NFC-based Apple Pay has mostly garnered positive reviews since its launch in October, and is believed to revolutionize the mobile payments market. The platform has been gradually expanding and Apple struck more deals in the meantime, and experts believe it's one of the most secure payment platforms around.

When it first launched, Apple Pay could only be used at 220,000 retail locations across the U.S., but the company has moved forward since then. Apple just announced that dozens of other banks and retailers have now signed up to use its mobile platform, and things are looking up for the mobile payments market.

It remains to be seen whether Samsung's deal with LoopPay will materialize, but even if this collaboration is off the table Samsung could still find another way to compete on the mobile payments market. We'll keep you up to date as soon as we hear more, so stay tuned.