Google could launch Android Pay in the US this week, beating rival Samsung to the punch, according to notices distributed to McDonald's restaurants.
Unveiled at Google's I/O developer conference in May, Android Pay will enable in-app and NFC-based payments with handsets running the KitKat version of the OS at around 700,000 US locations.
No launch date has been announced, but notices in McDonald's restaurants, leaked to the Android Police site, tell employees that the service will go live on 26 August.
The notices also claim that the rival Samsung Pay went live on 21 August, although this is at odds with the South Korean manufacturer's stated US launch date of 28 September. The firm's newest handsets, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ did arrive on the 21st.
After its Google Wallet false start, Google is hoping that Android Pay will help it in the mobile payments battle with rival Apple, which launched its similar service last year and has seen strong adoption. However, the decision of Samsung to introduce its own option complicates matters, making the question of which launches first potentially important.