Apple Pay is now the market leader in proximity mobile payments. According to eMarketer, this year Apple Pay will have 30.3 million users in the US, representing 47.3% of proximity mobile payment users.
Following is the Starbucks app with 25.2 million users this year, representing 39.4% of proximity mobile payment users. eMarketer says that Apple Pay has grown even faster than expected.
“Apple Pay has benefited from the spread of new point-of-sale (POS) systems that work with the NFC signals Apple Pay runs on,” said eMarketer principal analyst Yory Wurmser. “The same trend should also help Google Pay and Samsung Pay, but they will continue to split the Android market.”
US adults ages 25 to 34 are the largest demographic in terms of absolute size and penetration, with 21.2 million users, or nearly 50% of all smartphone users in this age group. The fastest growth is among Americans ages 55 to 64 but from a small base.
Total spending via proximity mobile payments will approach $100 billion this year in the US, says eMarketer. That means that on average, a user will spend $1,545 per year using proximity mobile payments, up more than 24% over last year.
Overall, the total number of people using proximity mobile payments in the US this year will grow 9.1% to 64.0 million. That represents nearly 30% of all US smartphone users.
“With in-store payments, there is a need for convenience that proximity payments are increasingly fulfilling,” said eMarketer junior forecasting analyst Vincent Yip. “Although a growing number of millennials feel secure using payment apps, virtually all still find credit and debit cards equally convenient.”