Market research firm InfoScout claims only 6% of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus owners have used Apple Pay to perform a transaction at a merchant, while 85% have yet to try the touchless payments service.
InfoScout announced its findings at the PYMNTS.com Mobile Innovation Project 2015 conference on Wednesday, with Venture Beat reporting adoption of Apple’s NFC-based mobile payments system is moving “very slowly.”
The remaining 9% of respondents says they’ve experimented with Apple Pay, but forgot how to use it when making a purchase, or didn’t know where it was accepted.
InfoScout’s finding were based on a three-day survey taken last week, involving 1,188 participants.
While the report lumps together users who are satisfied with their current method of making payments, and those who simply don’t understand how Apple Pay works, the survey makes one thing clear, hardware currently limits the service’s growth
“Not only do you have to have consumers with Apple Pay, you have to have consumers with iPhone 6,” said PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. “So, you have to have a consumer with the right hardware and the merchant with the right hardware in order for it to work.”
Apple will be debuting the Apple Watch in April, and the wearable device could aid in addressing the hardware issue, as it will also allow iPhone 5, 5s, and 5c users to access Apple Pay.
One bright spot in the report was that of customer loyalty. The study found 30% of respondents who do use Apple Pay base their decision on where to shop on whether or not the merchant accepts Apple’s touchless payments. If that number continues to grow, merchants will face growing pressure to adopt the service.
Survey participants also said they were not concerned about recent media reports of security concerns, and most view Apple Pay as safe and easy to use.
Apple is slowly adding tot he list of merchants and financial institutions supporting Apple Pay, recently announcing the addition of 14 merchant partners, as well as 39 new banks and credit unions to the list.
