Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Apple Pay - statistics & facts
Apple Pay has consistently reached the news in 2023 as it tries to expand its financial services, but how big is the payment option? Apple rarely shares information on Apple Pay. Its financials place it under the Services segment - combining it with figures on the Apple App Store or Apple TV. Local banks that offer Apple Pay are contractually not allowed to share user numbers or transaction counts. The last available estimate on global Apple Pay users is that over 500 million people activated the service on their iPhones. 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. Consequently, Apple is trying to expand its financial services in the U.S. How does it want to do that?
Apple Pay Later: Apple's foray into BNPL
Announced in June 2022, Apple started rolling out its Pay Later service in the United States in March 2023 as an iOS 16.4 extension to "regular" Apple Pay. The company initially invites select users only, with a full rollout for all eligible users to follow in the future. Nevertheless, 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. At face value, Pay Later looks to have a considerable market potential in the United States. More than six out of 10 U.S. 18- to 29-year-olds used an Apple smartphone in 2022. Apple Pay Later is only available for online shopping and in-app, however. The share of e-commerce in U.S. retail purchases was over 15 percent in 2023. Apple Pay was also not as accepted among online merchants as PayPal is.Apple Card: On cards, wallets, and savings
Apple Card is Apple's credit card in the United States, issued by Goldman Sachs and launched in 2019. It is a physical and a digital card - unlike Apple Cash, a digital-only prepaid card. Apple Card sits in Apple Wallet and can be used at Apple Pay locations. Apple Card owners in the United States in 2023 were typically Millennials who tended to have a relatively high income. Apple Card hopes to combine wallets and credit cards - the two most popular payment methods in U.S. online shopping. It also provides access to Apple's high-yield savings account. Most adults with an Apple Card in the United States are very or somewhat likely to open a savings account in the next six months as of April 2023.
