When it comes to payment systems in order to transfer money to friends or pay bills to businesses, there are a number of options on the market that may be able to suit your needs. When comparing Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal in terms of popularity and capabilities, the results may surprise you.
Apple Pay and Google Pay
While our goal is to compared Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal, it makes sense to first focus on the first two on the market.
These services work with a variety of applications and have a somewhat similar way of functioning. The main difference is that Apple Pay works exclusively on iOS devices while Google Pay has a lot more flexibility.
With how simple and easy to access these services are, it would seem as if the Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPayl battle is quite closer — or perhaps maybe swinging in the Apple and Google direction.
New information suggests that that’s not quite the case, however, with services like PayPal and Amex starting to edge out the competition when it comes to making online payments and transferring money.
PayPal and Amex
It has generally been thought that Apple and Google were going to continuing edging out services like PayPal, but it appears as if that’s not the case — at least according to fraud and risk management firm, Kount.
In the few years leading up to 2017, the Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal definitely swung in the direction of the first two services. For many people, the general lack of fees and increase in acceptance worldwide made the transition from services like PayPal and Amex to the options like Apple and Google a clear change.
However, PayPal and Amex have been making great strides in terms of increasing their ease of use and appealing to a wider audience, and Kount claims that significantly fewer businesses are accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay this year.
While Apple Pay fell from 48 to 35 percent acceptance and Google fell from 38 to 25 percent, PayPal and Amex have actually seen an increase in merchant acceptance. Alternative payment methods like Samsung Pay, Visa Checkout, Masterpass, and Chase Pay have generally remained constant from 2017 to 2018.
It’s important to note that the research from Kount focuses on merchant acceptance rather than the use of the apps for mobile payment transfers from wallet to wallet, and it’s a little more difficult to track those metrics without inside access to the applications. It’s certainly possible that Apple Pay and Google Pay have an edge when it comes to personal transfers — especially considering that these transfers are often available without any sort of fees. PayPal and Amex seem to have the edge in terms of merchant acceptance this year, however.
Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal: Potential Inaccuracies
Comparing Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal is also not 100% accurate for merchants even with the data that was collected by Kount. The firm themselves recognized the potential for there to be some inaccuracies with their data collection.
First off, there’s the problem of the selection of businesses they surveyed not being representative of the industry at large. While statistics can often be considered pretty accurate by examining a relatively small subset of the population, it’s not quite so easy when it comes to the varying reasons why companies may choose to support or deny different payment methods.
Another potential issue with the data collection regarding Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal market share is the fact that there were a wide selection of business sizes surveyed when collecting the data. While it may seem beneficial to include a number of companies with various amounts of revenue, the fact remains that a $250 million company will have a much more significant effect on total market adoption than a $5 million dollar company.
There’s a very real possibility that a large number of small businesses support Apple and Google payment methods, which would make the Apple Pay vs Google Pay vs PayPal comparison a much closer race.
All in all, it’s difficult to determine with 100% certainty which payment method is the most popular and effective overall, but it seems as if the adoption in terms of business support will slant much more in PayPal and Amex’s favor in the years to come.
