Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Apple Pay - statistics & facts
Apple Pay is one of the more well-known mobile payment methods available, even if Apple rarely shares figures about its payment method. The last available estimate on global Apple Pay users is that over 500 million people activated the service on their iPhones. Nevertheless, Apple's digital payments strategy shifted significantly in 2024. In what shape are Apple and Apple Pay going into 2025?
In 2025, therefore, third-party providers can now make use of the iPhone environment across several countries. Apple Pay's strategic changes may therefore have a significant impact in the development of mobile proximity payments across various markets simultaneously, even if it may or may not see the benefits of such change itself.
Apple Pay Later and Apple's new third-party BNPL approach
The company changed its approach to buy now, pay later (BNPL) in June 2024, after it discontinued its in-house Apple Pay Later service. Shortly after release in 2022, almost 20 percent of U.S. buy now, pay later (BNPL) users opted for Apple Pay Later between March and June 2023 over direct competitors. By 2025, Apple Wallet now offers BNPL options from third-party providers - one of which, Affirm, ranks among some of the U.S.' biggest BNPL providers. Analysts believe this change came from the difficulty to oversee the balance sheets for installment loans. Nevertheless, the integration of third-party BNPL is believed to lead to a sizable increase in merchant acceptance of the likes of Affirm.Third-party access also to come to Apple Pay
Apple also changed its approach to contactless payments, as it agreed to open up the iPhone's near-field communication (NFC) and secure element APIs to developers in 2024. It did so for the EU, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the United States. Until then, Apple Pay was the only contactless payment method available on iPhones worldwide. Analysts therefore expect this opening of the iPhone landscape, could provide opportunities for popular payment technologies like PayPal or Shopify. The impact could vary per market, though, as the market share of contactless POS payments varies per country.Apple Pay is used the most in English-speaking countries
Apple Pay figures typically come from consumer surveys. Statista's Consumer Insights lists the United Kingdom - not the United States or Canada - as the country with the highest Apple Pay penetration. Unlike the United Kingdom - where Apple Pay is one of relatively few mobile payment methods available - Apple Pay competes against PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle in the United States. By 2024, the Netherlands was estimated to have the highest merchant acceptance of Apple Pay among 24 countries.In 2025, therefore, third-party providers can now make use of the iPhone environment across several countries. Apple Pay's strategic changes may therefore have a significant impact in the development of mobile proximity payments across various markets simultaneously, even if it may or may not see the benefits of such change itself.
