The expansion of mobile payment systems like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay will spur massive 37.8 percent year-over-year growth in worldwide mobile payment market revenues in 2016, according to a new TrendForce report.
This year, total revenue from mobile payment systems is expected to hit a whopping $620 billion, up from $450 billion in 2015, the report said. Mobile Payment revenues are expected to reach $1.08 trillion by 2019 despite a projected decrease in year over year growth, according to the TrendForce forecast.
According to the report, a large part of this year’s revenue boost will come from Apple Pay and Samsung Pay’s entrance into the market in China. TrendForce said the country makes up a “huge slice” of the mobile payment market.
In December, both Samsung and Apple announced partnerships with China UnionPay to bring their mobile payment service to China. The addition of China UnionPay will be huge for the tech companies, as the bank has issued more than five billion UnionPay cards at home and abroad.
Apple said it is aiming to launch Apple Pay in China sometime this month. Samsung said it is hoping to roll out Samsung Pay in the country early this year.
TrendForce forecasted, though, that Apple and Samsung will see increasing competition in the mobile payment space from both banks and retailers themselves.
According to TrendForce senior manager for mobile communication and end device research Kelly Hsieh, banks will be “instrumental” in determining the dominant mobile payment systems in the global market.
Among financial institutions, TrendForce said a mobile payment technology called host card emulation (HCE) is on the rise, with deployments planned from Union Bank & Trust in the U.S., Intesa Sanpaolo in Italy, Yapi Kredi in Turkey and National Australia Bank in Australia.
Mobile payment systems from retailers are also making their way into the hands of consumers, including offerings from both Walmart and Target, the report said.
