Competitor Profile: Huawei Pay 2025

Competitor Profile: Huawei Pay 2025

Summary

Huawei Pay was launched in 2016 via a collaboration between payment scheme China UnionPay and smartphone brand Huawei, with the aim of competing in China’s exponentially expanding mobile payments market. Huawei Pay offers a ranges of payment services, including in-app and in-store payments. It offers both NFC payment as well as QR code payments for in-store purchases. To ensure privacy and security for payments, Huawei Pay utilizes tokenization and biometric authentication such as fingerprint recognition.

Challenging the dominance of established players Alipay and WeChat Pay has proven difficult. As per GlobalData’s 2024 Financial Services Consumer Survey, 38.3% of respondents use Alipay for in-store payments in China, followed by WeChat Pay (34.5%). In contrast, only 1.4% of Chinese respondents reported using Huawei Pay for in-store payments. However, the fact that Huawei Pay is tied to domestic brand UnionPay has given it an advantage compared to other competing mobile wallet providers such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Xiaomi’s Mi Pay.

Huawei Pay is now available in nine markets, including Hong Kong (China SAR), Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. The company has also formed strategic partnerships to enhance its services. For example, in February 2022, Huawei Pay extended its partnership with Singapore-based payment services provider Aleta Planet, enabling customers to add AP-1 UnionPay virtual cards to Huawei Pay. In January 2025, Huawei Pay introduced a digital gift card feature allowing users to send and receive red-envelope-style monetary gifts via smartphone, further expanding its service offerings ahead of the Spring Festival.

The report provides information and insights into Huawei including -

• Detailed insight into its business
• Comprehensive coverage of its products and services
• Comparative assessment with key alternative payment solutions
• Information on its revenue model and performance highlights
• The company's important events and milestones

• In March 2016, Huawei and China UnionPay collaborated to launch Huawei Pay.
• In August 2018, Huawei Pay launched a unified digital lock feature to integrate digital lock identification into its wallet.
• In April 2020, Huawei Pay expanded into Singapore, initially supporting ICBC credit cards and NFC-enabled contactless payments at POS terminals.
• In March 2021, Huawei Pay acquired Shenzhen-based digital payment firm Sharelink Network.
• In January 2025, Huawei Pay added a gift card feature ahead of Spring Festival 2025, allowing users to send and receive digital “red envelopes”—ordinary, luck, and good luck types—with custom messages and amounts.

• Learn about company's business proposition, and important achievements regarding product launches, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions.
• Examine the company’s operational and financial performance and benchmark it against its competitors.
• Detailed insight into company's current products and services mix.

• Gain insights into Huawei's business operations and key events.
• Gain insights into its product portfolio and revenue model.
• Assess the competitive dynamics in the alternative payments industry by comparing its performance against competitors.