Apple Pay Formally And Finally Launches In China

The long awaited and delayed, and by that we mean a week or so, big event for Apple's Chinese faithful has finally arrived. Apple Pay has finally launched in one of the world's biggest mobile market. Given that market size, it will be no small boost to Apple Pay usage, especially considering how more advanced the country is when it comes to adoption of contactless, mobile payment systems. That said, because of that, Apple might also have a tougher time competing with older, more established systems.

More like the UK and unlike the US, China is no stranger to payment systems that don't involve the exchange of physical money or even the swiping of plastic. That is both a boon and a bane for the fledgling Apple Pay. On the one hand, all the necessary infrastructure, as well as the market mind share, are already in place. On the other hand, Apple is coming late into the game.

Of course, it has the advantage of clout and resources compared to the likes of WeChat Pay or Alipay. It doesn't hurt either that it has snagged deals with China UnionPay, the state-run authority in credit and debit card processing. The initial list of supporting banks included China's four biggest, but the full list, including those still coming later in the year, will total 19 banks.

The features supported by Apple Pay in China is on par with those elsewhere. Meaning both in-app purchases and, more importantly, in-store purchases are available, depending on your device. The iPhone 6 and later models support both types of transactions, while Apple Watch only support in-store buys. The lack of an NFC chip on the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 and 4 means that only in-app purchases can be done with Apple Pay. As always, the security of each transaction is guaranteed, especially with Touch ID.