31% of Consumers Use Mobile Wallets In-Store as Apple Faces Faster Rivals

A PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 3,339 U.S. consumers shows mobile wallet usage has surged, with 31% using a mobile wallet in-store in the past seven days (up from 14% in Aug 2024). Apple Pay remains the most-used wallet—around 16% weekly in-store use and a dominant ecosystem position via ~60% iPhone share and acceptance at ~85% of merchants—but it still represents only ~10% of eligible in-person purchases and under 5% of overall transactions. Rivals are growing faster: Google Pay rose to 8.9% (from 3.5%), PayPal to 12.8% (from 7.3%) and Cash App to 10% (from 5.9%). Apple’s estimated in-store sales volume climbed to $450B from $268B. Market impact: the expanding wallet category increases overall digital payment volume (positive for platforms), but intensifying competition may cap Apple’s ability to monetize checkout dominance even as it benefits from broader adoption of tap-to-pay.