Feb. 18 marks the first anniversary of Apple Pay's entry into China. Despite being the most popular third-party payment service in the U.S., Apple Pay is currently underperforming its expectations in China.

截止2月18日，Apple Pay已经登陆中国市场一年了。尽管是美国最受欢迎的第三方支付平台，但Apple Pay在中国的表现却远比不上预期。

Local payment services utilizing¹ QR codes, such as WeChat and Alipay, are squeezing Apple Pay out of the market, the National Business Daily reported.

据《每日经济新闻》报道，微信和支付宝等中国本土二维码支付平台正在把Apple Pay挤出中国市场。

According to Analysys, a big data analysis provider, domestic payment service providers took almost 99 percent of the market share in China's third-party mobile service industry in the third quarter of 2016.

据大数据分析公司易观表示，2016年第三季度，中国国内支付平台几乎占据了中国第三方移动支付产业99%的市场份额。

Of them, Alipay received 50.24 percent of the market share, followed by WeChat's 38.12 percent.

其中支付宝占据了50.24%的市场份额，微信则为38.12%。

Compared with QR code payments, reliance on hardware has hindered the growth of near-field communication (NFC) payments, which is Apple Pay's chosen mode, a UnionPay insider noted². Apple Pay only works on iPhone 6 devices and above, which also restricts the number of users.

据银联一位内部人士指出，和二维码支付相比，Apple Pay选择的近场通信由于依赖硬件而阻碍了其增长。Apple Pay只能用iPhone 6及更新版本手机使用，这也限制了用户的数量。

In addition, the cost to maintain and upgrade the POS that supports NFC payment is high. There are currently about 6 million POS that support NFC payment nationwide.

此外，维护和升级支持近场通信POS机的成本也很高。目前全中国支持近场通信的POS机大概有600万个。

It costs 300 RMB to upgrade a POS, and a new POS costs roughly 600 RMB. It therefore remains³ a significant challenge to convince shops to upgrade or install new POS in substantial numbers.

每升级一个POS机需要300元，而购置一个新的POS机大概需要600元。因此说服商家升级或安装大量新的POS机是一个巨大的挑战。

WeChat and Alipay also offer higher subsidies⁴ to shops that use their payment services, which discourages shops from setting up Apple Pay.

微信和支付宝对那些使用他们服务的商家支付的补贴也更高，这就使得那些商家更加不会使用Apple Pay。

As major drivers of Apple Pay in China, UnionPay and several major banking⁵ institutions actively⁶ promoted the service when it first entered China. But many of these institutions have already shifted their focus to QR code payments.

作为Apple Pay在中国的主要推动因素，银联和几家大银行在Apple Pay刚刚进入中国时曾对其进行大力推广。但是现在这些机构中许多都已经转战二维码支付了。

However, the question remains: Does Apple Pay have a chance to stage a comeback?

但是，问题依然存在：Apple Pay能否卷土重来？

"From a technical perspective, NFC payment will have more market space in the future," predicted the UnionPay insider.

这名银联内部人士预测说：“从技术角度来看，近场通信支付将来会有更多市场空间。”

Li Chao, an analyst⁷ with iResearch, remarked that there is good reason for Apple Pay to exist in the Chinese market, as NFC technology offers advantages in security.

艾瑞咨询分析师李超也认为，有充分理由认为Apple Pay将继续在中国市场生存，因为近场通信技术在安全方面具有优势。