Apple Pay overtook Afterpay in average users in 2023 to become the third most widely used digital payment service in Australia
The latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report shows Apple Pay has more than doubled its share of users in the Australian market over the last three years and overtook Afterpay amongst Australians during 2023 as user numbers of Afterpay plateaued.
Apple Pay is now used by almost 4 million Australians (17.7% of the population) in an average 12 months and is clearly the third most widely used digital payment service. The user numbers for Apple Pay exceeded that of Afterpay, which is now used by around 3.4 million people (15.2%), for the first time in March 2023.
Apple Pay has more than doubled its user base in the Australian marketplace from three years ago, up from 8% of Australians in December 2020 to 17.7% in December 2023 – an increase of 9.7% points over the last three years, and up by 3.7% points over the last year alone as growth in user numbers accelerated.
In contrast, the user base of Afterpay has plateaued and is now at 15.2% of Australians in an average 12 months, down from 15.5% a year ago, and down from a peak of 15.9% in June 2023.
Afterpay launched in the Australian marketplace in late 2014, just over a year before Apple Pay entered the Australian market late in 2015.
The rapid growth in user numbers for Apple Pay contrasts with the digital payment services from PayPal and BPAY, which are both used by over 40% of Australians, but haven’t experienced much growth in recent years.
Australian users of digital payment services Apple Pay & Afterpay in an average 12 months
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, October 2018 – December 2023, 12 month moving average; n = 55,988. Base: Australians 14+ who used Apple Pay or Afterpay in an average 12 months.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says growth in the user base of Apple Pay over the last few years has outpaced any other digital payment service – up from 4% of Australians in 2018 and more than quadrupling over the last five years to 17.7% of Australians in December 2023:
“Roy Morgan’s latest Digital Payments Report shows that Apple Pay overtook Afterpay during 2023 to become Australia’s third most widely used digital payment service.
“The usage of Apple Pay has grown far more rapidly and consistently over the last five years than any other digital payment service from only 4% of Australians in 2018, doubling to 8% by 2020, and more than doubling again to 17.7% of Australians in December 2023.
“This figure represents around 4 million Australians and means Apple Pay, which launched in Australia less than a decade ago in late 2015, is clearly Australia’s third most widely used digital payment service behind long-time market leaders PayPal and BPAY.
“The surge in usage of Apple Pay contrasts with the stabilization in the usage of Afterpay which has now plateaued at between 15-16% of Australians for 18 months since June 2022. The usage of Afterpay grew strongly during the pandemic from 9.5% of Australians in March 2020 to a high of 15.9% of Australians in June 2023.
“The latest figures show Afterpay is now used by 15.2% of Australians – around 3.4 million people. Despite the flattening out of growth for Afterpay, the service is one of the standouts from amongst the newer players in the market. Afterpay launched less than a decade ago in Australia in late 2014 and is easily Australia’s fourth most widely used digital payment service.
“Overall awareness of ‘buy-now-pay-later’ services such as Afterpay, Zip and Klarna is high with the sector the most well-known type of digital payment service – now 18.9 million Australians (86%) say they are aware of these services. However, only 4.7 million Australians (21.2%) have used a ‘buy-now-pay-later’ service in the year to December 2023.
“The usage of ‘buy-now-pay-later’ services still trails well behind more traditional digital payment services such as ‘online payment platforms’ PayPal, Visa Checkout and Masterpass. Over 10 million Australians (45.6%) used an online payment platform in the year to December 2023.
“To learn more about Australia’s fast-changing and increasingly crowded digital payments eco-system Roy Morgan’s latest Digital Payments Report provides a wealth of detail on the awareness and usage trends for over 20 digital payment services including some well-known, some well used and some well-loved – we measure them all.
“The digital payment services Roy Morgan measures include PayPal, BPAY, Afterpay, Humm, Apple Pay, Zip, Google Pay, Post billpay, Visa Checkout, masterpass, Western Union, Kharna, fitbit pay, Garmin Pay, paywear, Samsung Pay, Commbank Tap & Pay, ANZ, NAB Pay, Bankwest Halo and Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Solana, Dogecoin, Ripple and Cardano.”
These new digital payment findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s leading consumer survey, derived from in-depth interviews with around 60,000 Australians annually.
For comments or more information about Roy Morgan’s digital payment data please contact:
Roy Morgan Enquiries
Office: +61 (3) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com
Related research findings
For further in-depth analysis, take a look at Roy Morgan’s latest Digital Payments Report including looking at the adoption of new digital payment services by the psychographic segmentation of Helix Personas.
About Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K. A full-service research organisation, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information on consumers.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
