The global value of mobile payments continues to rise as consumers increasingly adopt it as their preferred payment method. This growth is driven by innovation, wider merchant acceptance, and greater financial inclusion. Smartphones and digital wallets now serve as primary payment tools, enabling easy Tap-to-Pay experiences both online and in-store. As the industry evolves toward a more mobile-centric future, efforts are focused on enhancing mobile payment solutions and the infrastructure, with strong growth expected as mobile becomes key to the payment ecosystem.
Mobile payments are rapidly gaining traction worldwide, emerging as a preferred payment method, especially among younger consumers. In 2024, according to Euromonitor International data, the mobile payments transaction value grew by 12% year-over-year, reaching USD 8,146 billion across 47 researched markets.
The rising global penetration of smartphones, as a result of new models and brands that are more affordable and tailored to different consumers’ needs, as well as the increasing internet access of households worldwide, are major factors contributing to this double-digit growth. Euromonitor International data shows that, in 2023, 87% of households worldwide owned smartphones, while 71% had access to broadband Internet. Fintechs are still going strong, promoting financial inclusion globally by providing digital financial products that are easily accessible and user-friendly apps with tools that aid in improving consumers' financial literacy. Moreover, leaders in the market—Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, Alipay, and WeChat—along with POS system providers, have driven the widespread adoption of mobile payments by continuously innovating technology to streamline checkout, banking, and consumer purchases.
BLIK, a mobile payment system launched in Poland in 2015, allows users to send and receive money via mobile phones. By Q1 2024, it had over 16 million active users and became one of Poland's leading payment methods. BLIK has driven ecommerce growth with its intuitive interface, while also fostering financial inclusion and reducing cash reliance. Euromonitor data shows Poland’s banked population rose from 79% to 97% since BLIK's launch, and cash usage dropped by 6% between 2015 and 2024. Blik also boosted mobile payment transactions, which reached USD 64 billion in 2024. After expanding into Slovakia and Romania in 2022–2023, and joining Google Play in early 2024, BLIK continues to grow regionally.
In 2023, British POS provider SumUp launched its Tap-to-Pay on iPhone solution in the UK and the Netherlands, enabling merchants to accept contactless payments via iPhone and the free SumUp iOS app – no additional hardware needed. This innovation simplifies payment acceptance for small businesses, promoting the adoption of mobile payments and digital wallets. The service expanded to Denmark, Austria, Romania, Ireland, and the Czech Republic in 2024.
According to data analytics company Euromonitor International, remote continues to be the largest category of mobile payments globally, accounting for 74% of all mobile payments in 2024, with proximity payments representing just over 26%. Shifting consumer preferences toward online shopping, driven by competitive pricing, free shipping, and access to a wide range of brands anytime, anywhere, has been further simplified by mobile payments and smartphone portability. In addition, the use of tokenization in mobile payments – the process of securing sensitive card information by substituting it with a distinct, algorithm-generated number known as a token – has been crucial to the advancement of the payment method since it increases the efficiency and security of online checkouts – as each transaction generates a different token. Tokenization has also sped up checkouts by removing the inconvenience of entering card information, which has decreased card abandonment.
Mobile proximity payments, though still a small segment of mobile transactions, are growing globally as a result of advances in digital wallets, biometric authentication, Near Field Communication (NFC), expanded QR code usage, increased merchant acceptance, and evolving consumer habits, particularly among younger users. According to the Euromonitor Voice of the Consumer: Digital Consumer Survey, fielded from March to April 2024, over 26% of respondents aged 18 to 29 said they used their smartphones or wearables to make in-person payments at least weekly.
Figure 1: Top 5 countries for mobile payment value transactions, 2024
In 2024, China leads the global mobile payments market, valued at USD 3,840 billion . Key drivers of this dominance include evolving consumer behaviour, government support, and technological innovation, particularly the widespread adoption of QR code-based payments. The rapid growth is further fuelled by high smartphone usage and the popularity of platforms like Alipay and WeChat, which offer a range of services including social media, online shopping, food ordering, and money transfers.
The value of mobile payment transactions taking place remotely and in proximity is expected to continue growing. This will be fuelled by businesses' increased emphasis on making financial services accessible to the public, with smartphones and other smart devices serving as the primary means of doing so because of their extensive penetration. Additionally, the growing market engagement of fintech companies and local digital wallet providers in the industry will contribute to the projected growth. This is already the case with the 2024 opening of Apple's NFC technology in Europe, which will grant third-party providers unrestricted access to Apple's capabilities and enable customers to pick their preferred default payment app on their iOS devices. Another example is the recent launch of Mastercard Pay Local, a global service that allows users to pay with cards using local digital wallets. This new service gives residents and international travellers wider choices, boosts merchant acceptance with little infrastructure, and increases the visibility and clientele of local digital wallet providers.
The increasing adoption of mobile payments will also be attributed to the rising popularity of virtual cards, which are instantly generated digital payment cards linked to an end user's bank account with a unique card number, expiration date, and CVC. Their popularity will be driven by their convenience – customers do not have to wait days or weeks for their cards to arrive and do not have to worry about carrying their physical wallets with them when they go out because everything is stored on their smartphones – and the fact that it lowers costs for issuers by eliminating the expenses associated with production and shipping. By taking away the need to produce and use plastic cards, virtual cards will also continue to enable businesses and customers to minimise emissions, which contributes to sustainability. Global card operators Visa, Mastercard, and Amex currently offer B2B virtual card solutions, and it is anticipated that personal banking customers will begin to have greater access to these cards.
Mobile payments are anticipated to remain a key driver of innovation in the payment sector as consumers – both individuals and businesses – demand more convenient, secure, and real-time solutions. Euromonitor International projects that the market will reach USD 12,532 billion by 2029, growing at a 9% CAGR from 2024 to 2029 – suggesting new opportunities for the business.
Figure 2: Mobile payment value transactions growth, 2019-2029
Marite is a senior research analyst at data analytics company Euromonitor International, specialising in the payments and lending industry. Based in London, she conducts and commissions research across various industries in Western Europe. Marite provides in-depth analyses of trends shaping the payments and lending markets, offering critical insights to support clients' decision-making processes.
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