A few days ago it was rumored that Apple Pay could be officially launched in China this week. Turns out the rumors were true because according to a report from Reuters, Apple Pay has been officially launched in the country, and apparently with support for more than 80% of the country’s credit and debit cards.
This is a stark contrast compared to Apple Pay’s launch in Australia, in which only American Express credit cards were accepted. Apple announced their plans to enter the Chinese market in December last year, in which they would be partnering up with UnionPay to help bring the service into the country.
Given that China tends to resist foreign companies from trying to set up shop in their country, this partnership was necessary. The launch in China also makes it Apple’s fifth launch country, behind the likes of the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. The race is currently on to see how many countries they can expand into at the moment.
Samsung’s own mobile payments service Samsung Pay has also been gaining a fair bit of momentum. If the rumors are to be believed, Samsung is expected to announce additional expansion plans at MWC 2016 next week, and if that is true, Apple might have some catching up to do.