About 31 percent of active iPhone users are also using Apple Pay, Apple’s biometrically secured digital payments platform, according to a new estimate from Loup Ventures. And the firm predicts this number will rise substantially.

In a new post on its website, the investment firm says Apple will lead the charge for digital wallets more broadly over the coming years. The platform has “several advantages to brand the iPhone as the premium digital wallet given its ability to integrate payments into both mobile and desktop operating systems, use its brand to win accepting retailers and supporting banks, and reassure users that transactions are secure and private,” the firm says, and it’s also “the only digital wallet with all five payment pillars: mobile, desktop, in-app, peer to peer, and point of sale.”

Assessing the scant data Apple has offered over usage rates, the platform’s global availability, and its institutional support, Loup Ventures estimates that the 31 percent of iPhone users who have used Apple Pay in the last year – 252 million people – has grown from a base of 25 percent a year ago. And international markets are key, with 85 percent of Apple Pay users being outside of the US – perhaps because of the country’s lack of support for NFC payments in stores.

And Apple’s growth bodes well for competitors such as Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and PayPal. Loup Ventures believes that while less than 20 percent of the world’s smartphone users are currently using mobile wallets, that base will eventually rise to 80 percent – though the firm isn’t ready to predict how long that will take.

Source: Loup Ventures