It has been a while since Apple confirmed that its mobile payments service will be coming to China, however, it hasn’t revealed as yet precisely when Apple Pay is going to go live in the People’s Republic. If a new report out of China is to be believed then the launch might take place later this week, on Thursday, February 18th to be precise.
This information comes from the official public WeChat account of China Guangfa Bank credit cards. Like UnionPay cards, cards from this company will also work with Apple Pay, and it appears to have revealed through its WeChat account when this service will go live in China.
It’s said that Apple Pay will go live on February 18th at 5:00 am China time and also that users will require iOS 9.2 or WatchOS 2.1 on their iPhone or Apple Watch in order to use the service. Apple hasn’t confirmed anything as yet so even though the source is pretty solid here, it’s best to take this launch date with a grain of salt for now.
China is one of the first major international markets to which Apple Pay is gradually being expanded to. The company is expected to roll it out in other markets later this year.
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