64.7% of Chinese smartphone users, or about 424.5 million people, made regular mobile payments in June, up seven percentage points from December. China Internet Network Information Centre research shows that China’s total number of internet users has now hit 710 million, a 3.1% increase from December. Some 656 million users access the internet via their mobile devices.
China’s rapidly growing mobile payments sector is in part thanks to its late-mover advantage; unlike the US and other countries, it does not have a strong entrenched credit card culture. In addition, urban areas have seen widespread adoption of Alipay and Tenpay. It has also been boosted by the launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, whilst smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi have been rolling out new phones equipped with NFC functionality.
