Apple pay users exceed 250 million and expect trading volume to grow by 200% next year

According to media reports, about 31 percent of iPhone users have used Apple Pay shopping in the past year, up from 25 percent a year ago, according to the latest report from Loup Ventrures analyst Gene Munster.

Munster noted that Apple Pay currently has an estimated 252 million users, or 31 percent of iPhone active users.

While Apple does not provide specific usage of Apple Pay, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a recent earnings call that the number of Apple Pay transactions in the third quarter of 2018 exceeded 1 billion, three times times a year ago.

Based on this data combined with Apple’s past Apple Pay annual growth report, Munster predicts the platform will see a 200 per cent increase in trading volume over the next 12 months.

The banking industry’s adoption of Apple Pay has also grown steadily.

On the same earnings call, Apple announced that 4,900 banks had supported the feature.

The number of Banks supporting Apple Pay has increased by 1,701 since the fourth quarter, with 55 per cent growth in North America, 141 per cent in Asia and 370 per cent in Europe.

Munster points out that only 20% of smartphone users around the world now use their mobile phones as digital wallets, but he thinks the numbers will rise to 80% in the future.

Apple is positioning the iPhone as the high-end digital wallet on the market because it is the only one with five payment pillars – mobile, desktop, in-app, P2P, point-of-sale terminals.

Apple pay is more popular in overseas markets than in the US, with a 15% share of the U.S. market and 85% overseas, Munster said.

Apple pay is estimated to have 38 million users in the US market and 215 million users in more than 20 other overseas countries.

　In addition to iPhone,apple pay, it can be used on Apple Watch, IPad, Mac, and iPhone retail stores. Apple also started supporting Apple Pay cash after the system version of iOS 11.3, but this feature is currently limited to the United States.

Apple pay now supports markets in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong（China）, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan（China）, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine, Norway and Poland. It will be extended to Germany later this year.