Apple Pay to launch in China in 2016

An Apple iphone 6 with Apple Pay is shown in this photo illustration in Encinitas, California, June 3, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Apple and China UnionPay announced a partnership on Friday to bring Apple Pay, a mobile payment solution provided by the US tech giant, to its Chinese customers next year.

According to the company's statement, users do not have to download an app or push display on their smart device in stores. With the innovative NFC antenna design, iPhone users can simply hold their phones near China UnionPay's QuickPass-enabled POS terminals with their fingers on Touch ID to pay.

"With Apple Watch, just double click the side button and hold the watch face up to the contactless reader to make a purchase right from your wrist," said the statement.

According to the company, Apple Pay will roll out to China UnionPay cardholders as soon as early 2016 after relevant tests and certification required by Chinese regulators, with the service itself in compliance with the applicable national mobile payment and financial industry standards in China.

China UnionPay cardholders will be able to add their bank cards to Apple Pay on iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad to enable the function.

"Apple Pay has revolutionized the way millions of people pay every day with their iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice-president of Internet Software and Services. "China is an extremely important market for Apple and with China UnionPay and with support from 15 of China's leading banks, users will soon have a convenient, private and secure payment experience."

"China UnionPay is dedicated to promoting payment innovations and providing secure, convenient mobile payment experiences for its hundreds of millions of cardholders, aligning multiple parties in the industry," said Chai Hongfeng, executive vice president of China UnionPay. "We're very excited to offer Apple Pay among a diverse set of innovative payment options that work with China UnionPay QuickPass."

"China UnionPay's QuickPass and Apple Pay together will protect customer payment information through industry-leading payment tokenization technology," said the statement.

Apple also expressed that security is at the core of Apple Pay, so when users add credit or debit cards, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, unique Device Account Numbers are assigned, encrypted and securely stored in dedicated chips called the Secure Element on devices. Each transaction is also authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

Currently, the total number of the UnionPay Card issued both at home and abroad has been over 5 billion. The UnionPay network has been extended to all the cities and rural areas in China.

In addition, UnionPay has enabled UnionPay Card acceptance across more than 150 countries and regions through extensive cooperation with financial and payment institutions around the world.

UnionPay cards can be used in more than 26 million merchants and 1.9 million ATMs.