Tech companies are trying to get American consumers more comfortable with paying for purchases with their smartphones. Polling company eMarketer estimates that by 2019, the total value of transactions made by tapping a phone on an in-store terminal will rise to $210 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2015. While a number of mobile wallets have come online in the past few years, none of them have really taken off in the United States. Tech companies are hoping to reverse that trend by offering mobile wallets with more features that are easier to use. Here are some of the mobile wallet choices that will be available in 2016.
Android Pay
Google has revamped its Android Pay mobile wallet service, which allows users to pay for purchases by tapping their Android smartphones on a payment terminal. The exact number of users of the service is unknown, but the company said in a blog post on Dec. 15 that “millions of people” had signed up for the new Android Pay.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is currently the market leader in tap-and-pay transactions. However, according to research firm Aite Group, just 1 percent of all retail transactions in the U.S. are conducted using Apple Pay. The service’s in-store payment feature can only be used if you have one of the latest Apple iPhones, which limits its reach.
Chase Pay
JPMorgan Chase plans to introduce its Chase Pay mobile wallet in mid-2016. The company plans to pre-load cards for 94 million customer accounts to make adoption effortless. Chase has also announced that it will support Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and other competing services, allowing its cards to be used no matter what mobile wallet service the customer is using.
Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX)
Founded in August 2012 through a partnership between merchants, the Merchant Customer Exchange is currently testing its CurrentC app with about 200 merchants in Columbus, Ohio. The CurrentC app is available to download from iTunes and Google Play. The service has not yet been made available nationwide, but many believe that it will become widely available in 2016.
PayPal
In 2016, PayPal is planning to introduce a feature that will let customers tap their phones to pay in stores. PayPal currently has 173 million active users and the PayPal app works on both iPhones and Android phones.
Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay debuted in the U.S. last September. Samsung Pay works with older in-store terminals, unlike Apple Pay or Android Pay, virtually guaranteeing wider adoption faster than its competitors. Samsung Pay is currently only available on newer Galaxy smartphones.
Walmart Pay
Walmart has announced that it will begin accepting payments through its Walmart mobile app in all of its stores in the United States in the first half of 2016. The app, which also compares prices and offers discounts on items, is already used by roughly 22 million Walmart shoppers. This will make it simple for these customers to switch over to the Walmart Pay feature. Walmart Pay will also let customers split their payment between multiple payment types and add their Savings Catcher balances as a payment type.