“Not just Apple Pay, but the two other major third party contactless wallets, Google Pay (formerly Android Pay) and Samsung Pay, are tracing a slow but definite descent in adoption among smartphone owners”, research conducted by Phoenix Marketing International has found.

“These three products, known colloquially as the ‘Pays’, have seen the number of smartphone owners linking a credit card dip to 16% of device owners, or an estimated 17m households, as of the fourth quarter of 2017. That’s down from 19% in the first quarter and the lowest rate in the last two years of quarterly measures,” Phoenix says.

“Apple Pay leads, at 11%, but that’s down from 13% as recently as the second quarter of last year. Google Pay and Samsung Pay both register at 6%, but both are down several percentage points across the two years. All three show what Phoenix characterizes as ‘signs of slippage’ across the last half of 2017.”

On-going issues with the reliability of mobile payments in stores is the main reason for the decline, the survey of 23,700 US adults with a general purpose credit- or charge card found.

Of these, some 4,301 respondents had linked a credit or debit card to one or more of the Pays. 3,371 had used a credit card to make a card-present mobile payment.

52% of Apple Pay users reported that they had experienced problems during checkout. 48% of those surveyed reported that cashiers were “unable to help” and 31% reported “transactions posted incorrectly.”

Asked what factors would get them to use one of the Pays more often, 38% cited faster transaction times and 33% cited “confidence the terminal would work every time.”

“Applying credit card rewards (32%) and receiving discounts or offers (29%) also turned out to be popular inducements,” Phoenix found.

“Surprisingly, order ahead capability came in last, at 20%, even though many restaurant chains have adopted this function in a bid to attract mobile-oriented customers.”

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