Apple Pay was launched last year that lets iPhone users transfer money, which is indeed an evident factor that not many users make use of this privilege. (Photo : Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)
Apple is expanding the support for its Apple Pay payment service. The tech giant recently announced that it will release Apple Pay in China in 2016, the service will compete with established services from Chinese tech companies like Tencent and Alibaba.
In launching Apple Pay, Apple is partnering with China's main bank and payment firm UnionPay which is a state-controlled consortium which controls all yuan payment cards that are issued and used within the country, according to MacWorld.
In a statement released by UnionPay, the firm is also planning to enter into an agreement with Samsung Electronics which is planning to expand its payment system Samsung Pay into the region.
Once rolled out in China, Apple Pay will face serious competition. The online payment market in China is currently dominated by WeChat Payment operated by Tencent and Alipay which is operated by Alibaba.
Market experts estimate that Apple Pay will have a fair share of the market since sales of Apple devices in China are strong. Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said that Apple Pay will take a larger share of the market compared to Samsung Pay.
Cordwell told Reuters, "I think Samsung Pay depends on Samsung selling devices and I think if anything, Samsung is in retreat in that (Chinese) market. So, I don't see Samsung Pay as a major threat. The bigger challenge is against Alipay or WePay, which are more platform agnostic and have a strong user base."
Market experts consider China as the world's biggest tech market. Online payment services in China are also setting record high transactions. Experts connect this boom to the proliferation of millions of smartphones into the country.
