Eleven years after its launch, Apple Pay remains the most recognised name in mobile payments — but its dominance is under pressure.
New data shows that while usage has surged, competitors such as Google Pay, PayPal, and Cash App are growing faster, capturing the momentum of a broader shift toward mobile wallets at checkout.
A Decade of Progress Meets a Moment of Competition
Apple Pay at 11: Growth continues
In-store mobile wallet usage has more than doubled since 2024, with over three in ten shoppers now tapping their phones weekly.
This surge reflects the dual appeal of convenience and perceived security, which continues to draw new users across generations.
Yet Apple Pay’s market penetration still falls short of its potential.
Despite 85% of merchants now accepting the payment method and nearly 60% of consumers owning an iPhone, Apple Pay accounts for just 10% of eligible in-person purchases and less than 5% of total transactions.
The report estimates Apple Pay’s in-store sales volume at $450 billion this year — a healthy rise from $268 billion in 2024 — but still modest in the context of total retail spending.
Physical cards remain the default choice at checkout, with debit and credit continuing to dominate payment flows.
Who’s Driving the Uptake?
The biggest champions of mobile wallets are millennials, nearly half of whom used one for an in-store purchase in the past week — a 112% year-on-year increase.
Even baby boomers, long the most cautious demographic, are joining the digital payments trend, with their usage rising 147%. Online transactions have also climbed sharply: one in four consumers paid for an online purchase using a digital wallet in the past week, up 73% from 2024.
Motivations vary by age and income. For Gen Z and millennial users, speed and ease of use are the leading drivers of first-time adoption.
Older consumers, by contrast, cite curiosity and the belief that digital wallets are more secure than cards.
High-income users are most likely to experiment with mobile wallets for rewards or discounts, while lower-income consumers often adopt them out of necessity — for example, after forgetting a physical wallet.
The Competitive Landscape Tightens
While Apple Pay still leads in total users, its rivals are closing in fast. The number of consumers using Google Pay has more than doubled, while PayPal and Cash App have also posted similar growth.
In e-commerce, Apple Pay continues to expand its footprint faster than its rivals, but the gap is narrowing.
The data suggests that the rise in digital wallet users has not translated into a proportional increase in Apple Pay’s market share.
Growth is spread across multiple players, underscoring a competitive, multi-wallet environment in which loyalty is fluid and convenience dictates choice.
Digital Cash Gains Ground
Another trend reshaping payments is the growing role of digital cash balances as a funding source for mobile wallets.
Between 2023 and 2025, the share of consumers using stored balances for in-store transactions rose from 1% to 3.7%, while debit and credit card usage held steady.
Digital wallets are now on the verge of overtaking cash for in-store payments: usage has jumped from 0.9% in 2022 to 11.8% in 2025, as cash has fallen from 17.6% to 12.1%.
The Outlook
Apple Pay’s eleventh birthday marks a pivotal juncture. Its growth story remains impressive, but its once-commanding lead is eroding as consumers embrace an ecosystem of alternative wallets.
The next phase of competition will likely centre on integration, rewards, and cross-platform functionality — factors that determine not just who wins the next tap at checkout, but who defines the future of digital commerce.
The post Apple Pay at 11: Growth continues, but rivals close the gap appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.