AliPay and WeChat Pay are believed to remain dominant mobile payment methods in China, as they are forecast to reach a combined user base of nearly 2.5 billion users. The apps, owned respectively Ant Financial and Tencent Holdings, were estimated to account for over 90 percent of Chinese mobile payments, making the country the largest for proximity mobile payment use. Part of their success and early adoption was their connection with the WeChat and Alibaba ecosystem: Both Alipay and WeChat stem from what originally was a social platform and do not need a separate stand-alone app to function. This concept of "an app within an app" is different from, say, PayPal in the United States that originally functioned outside of an app like Amazon.
Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025
(in millions)
The source does not provide any information regarding consumers using more than one app at the same time. It may, therefore, be that the total users of all apps combined is higher than the country's population
Supplementary notes
The source explicitly states that "we look (...) only for open wallets, ie those that have the ability to make payments on multiple sites, rather than in reference to an ability to transfer funds between different wallets. Thus we do not focus on transactions conducted via cards stored by a retailer purely for use on that retailer’s website or mobile app."
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Statista estimates. (October 21, 2021). Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/
Statista estimates. "Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions)." Chart. October 21, 2021. Statista. Accessed December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/
Statista estimates. (2021). Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/
Statista estimates. "Number of Users of Alipay and Wechat Pay in China in 2020, with Forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 21 Oct 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/
Statista estimates, Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/ (last visited December 21, 2024)
Number of users of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) [Graph], Statista estimates, October 21, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271130/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-china/
