Apple is reporting considerable growth in the use of its biometrically secured mobile wallet.
In a conference call announcing the company’s Q1 results, CEO Tim Cook said the number of Apple Pay transactions for the quarter was up 450 percent compared to Q1 of 2016.
As usual, the company did not provide specific numbers pertaining to the service’s use or revenues, a policy that has led to a lot of speculation as the new mobile payments market has emerged; one recent report estimated that Apple Pay is leading the market with 45 million users last year and an anticipated 86 million by the end of this year. But Cook did assert that the payment platform is now supported at 20 million locations around the world.
As Fortune notes, a lot of this growth is likely coming from the service’s expansion into new markets, with Taiwan recently having become the 15th regional market to support the platform, alongside others like the US, the UK, and China. Going forward, there is speculation that Apple will further expand Apple Pay’s functionality by enabling peer-to-peer payments.
Whether Apple Pay is currently a profitable venture or not, Apple has the resources to explore this new market: The company reported total revenues of $52.9 billion for its latest quarter, up from $50.6 billion a year ago.
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