Mobile payments in China in 2016 accounted for over half of it’s total GDP, reaching a record $5.5 trillion worth of transactions. 

China’s mobile payments market is now 50x the size of the market in the US. A key driver in the growth of mobile payments in China is the ease of use and accessibility. Payments in China are often made through QR code systems, which are cheap to implement and don’t require a high end smart phone to function. QR codes have failed to gain traction in the US.

Apple Pay launched in the US in 2014, but the adoption rate of the product is declining. This is due to security concerns, which are preventing Apple Pay from becoming the main way in which iPhone users pay. Another barrier for Apple Pay is that, in a March 2017 survey, 49% of users stated that they don’t use Apple Pay often because they are simply happy with their other existing payment methods.