Apple is testing Douyin Pay as a new mobile payment option on its China App Store, according to Chinese media reports.

Douyin Pay, operated by ByteDance’s short video platform Douyin, could become the fourth payment method on the mainland App Store after Alipay, WeChat Pay, and China UnionPay.

Douyin had about 766.5 million monthly active users in China as of last month, according to Sekkei Digital Group.

The move signals continued competition among mobile payment providers in China, where Alipay and WeChat Pay lead the market.

Separately, images claiming to show the iPhone 17 have appeared online, drawing attention on Chinese social media.

Some images, including those from an iPhone case maker’s website, show a large horizontal camera module on the presumed iPhone 17 Pro.

Apple’s new camera design became a trending topic on platforms like RedNote and Baidu.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 17 at its annual event in September.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Douyin Pay’s App Store integration highlights fierce competition in China’s saturated mobile payments market

Apple’s decision to test Douyin Pay reflects the intense battle for market share in China’s massive but concentrated mobile payments landscape.

Alipay and WeChat Pay currently control between 90-93% of all mobile payment transactions in China, creating an extremely challenging environment for new entrants like Douyin Pay 12.

The mobile payments market reached over $80 trillion in transaction volume in 2024, but this enormous size hasn’t translated into easy opportunities for competitors 3.

ByteDance’s need to integrate with Apple’s App Store demonstrates how even companies with 766.5 million users must leverage external platforms to compete against the established duopoly.

This demonstrates how market concentration can persist even in rapidly growing digital sectors, where network effects and ecosystem integration create significant barriers for challengers.

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