China UnionPay Partners With Apple Pay

The relative dominance of the QR code in the Chinese mobile payments market may be coming to an end, are at least facing its first serious challenger, as a new player rolls into town—Apple Pay.

In the wake of the announcement of its NFC-based payment system that is officially gunning to be the digital wallet of the masses, Apple has expanded the masses to include the m-pay enthusiastic Chinese through an deal with China Union Pay, reports Watch China Times. China’s state-backed credit cards issuer is reportedly in talks with Apple that will allow the Cupertino-based firm to offer near field communication-supported payment systems with its latest model the iPhone 6 in the country.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express have all already announced signing on with Apple Pay,

China Union Pay has previously experimented, to no avail, with NFC payments. QR codes are currently dominant in China, however due to security concerns, China’s biggest issuer has stayed away from commercial applications of the technology. Previous failed adoption was mostly chalked up to limited availability—few phones at in China had NFC technology and even fewer merchants incorporated it.

Apple has touted NFC, in combination with its biometric scanning system, as providing the security necessary to make payments both safer and easier for consumers.